A  (. 
OF 

R EAT HEART 
THE   SOUTH 

JOHN   T.    ANDKRSON 

MK[)KAI,    MISSKINAKY 

y.     GORDON  POTEAT 

ATi237po 


7:-r;tf'-'':j;^'>ty<Pi,.j^^'f 


BV  3415  .P72 

Poteat,  Gordon,  1891- 

A  Greatheart  of  the  South 


A  GREATHEART  OF 
THE  SOUTH 


JOHN   T.    ANDERSON,  M.D. 


A  GREATHEART   OF 
THE   SOUTH 

JOHN  T.  Anderson 

MEDICAL    MISSIONARY 

BY  y 

GORDON   POTEAT 

PROFESSOR   OF   NEW   TESTAMENT 
SHANQHAI  BAPTIST   COLLEGE 


"The   Interpreter   then   called  for   a 

Man-Servant  of  his,  one  Great-heart." 

Pilgrim's  Progress. 


NEW  X25^  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1921, 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  MTERICA 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  assistance  which  others  have  given,  particularly 
in  the  supplying  of  letters  and  incidents  which  were 
unknown  to  me,  and  their  urging  me  to  the  writing 
of  this  memoir  have  in  large  measure  contributed  to 
the  completion  of  this  book.  They,  as  well  as  I,  came 
under  the  influence  of  John  Anderson's  short  life.  So 
many  have  written  since  his  passing,  "He  was  the  best 
friend  I  ever  had."  None  of  us  would  dare  claim  to 
have  been  John's  best  friend,  but  all  of  us  drew  heavily 
upon  his  unfailing  love  and  friendship.  John  Ander- 
son's endowment  was  not  one  of  rich  intellectual  gifts. 
His  superiority  to  the  common  run  of  men  lay  rather 
in  the  unreserve  of  his  giving  of  his  life  and  love  and 
service  to  others.  This  book  is  no  eulogy — ^John 
Anderson  never  wanted  praise.  The  record  of  his 
deeds  speaks  for  itself.  I  must  acknowledge  specially 
the  help  that  John's  companion,  Mrs.  Minnie  Middle- 
ton  Anderson,  and  his  father  and  mother,  and  close 
friends,  L.  M.  Terrill,  H.  J.  Langston  and  L.  W. 
Langston,  have  given  me.  The  use  of  several  verses 
from  the  poem  "Tamate,"  by  John  Oxenham,  at  the 
close  of  the  last  chapter  is  also  acknowledged. 

Gordon  Poteat. 
November,  1920. 


CHAPTBR 

PAGB 

I 

The  Yang  Tze  River  . 

.        11 

II 

Early  Indications  of  Character 

.     19 

III 

At    Furman         .... 

.     27 

IV 

Beginning  the  Study  of  Medicine 

.     37 

V 

The  First  Year  in  Kentucky     . 

.     51 

VI 

The  Last  Year  in  the  University 

.     63 

VII 

A  Hospital  Interne   . 

.     79 

VIII     Into   the  Far   East   .         .         .         .93 
IX     Yang   Chow  and   Beyond    .         •          .109 


vu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


John  T.  Anderson,  M.  D.      .         .      Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Dr.  Anderson  in  His  Hospital  Uniform  .     31 

Dr.   and  Mrs.  Anderson  and  Their  Son  in 

Yang  Chow     ......     46 


On  the  Way  to  Hwanghsien  . 
Off  for  a  Wheelbarrow  Ride 
Loyal  Friends  of  the  Hospital 
The  Parents  of  "Little  Four" 


46 

95 

95 

110 


IX 


CHAPTER  I:  THE  YANG  TZE  RIVER 


A  GREATHEART  OF 
THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  YANG  TZE  RIVER 


After  three  long  weeks  on  the  blue  sea,  the  Pacific 
liner  dropped  anchor  in  the  swirling  yellow  flood  of 
the  Yang  Tze  River.  In  the  darkness  no  hint  of  the 
shore  line  of  China  could  be  seen,  but  the  travelers 
knew  that  they  were  at  the  end  of  their  journey  as 
the  lights  of  the  vessel  revealed  the  muddy  waters  of 
that  great  river  beneath  the  sides  of  the  steamer. 
There  was  a  thrill  in  this  first  contact  with  the  land  of 
their  quest. 

How  truly  this  great  river,  seen  first  in  the  dark- 
ness, typifies  that  endless  stream  of  life  that  is  China, 
sweeping  on  through  countless  centuries,  full  of  old 
world  sorrows  and  old  world  joys.  The  river,  rising 
far  to  the  West  in  the  snows  of  the  Himalayas,  brings 
with  its  swift  deep  current  the  blessings  of  fertility  to 
all  its  banks,  but  also  at  times  the  bane  of  destroying 
floods.  It  bears  the  ships  of  commerce  on  its  navigable 
waters  for  a  thousand  miles,  the  artery  of  trade  to  the 
heart  of  China;  but,  in  its  wilder  moments,  it  crushes 

II 


12  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

boats  with  their  freight  of  teas  and  silks  in  the  teeth 
of  the  rapids  in  the  Yang  Tze  Gorges.  Thus  also  are 
the  possibilities  of  good  and  evil  in  the  teeming  mil- 
lions of  the  land  of  Sinim.  Steadily  down  the  files  of 
time  they  have  come,  virile  and  strong,  faithful  to 
their  past  in  a  marvelous  conservatism,  with  unlimited 
resources  of  man-power,  to  pour  their  wealth  into  the 
larger  oceans  of  new  world  relationships.  And  yet 
the  mouth  of  this  stream  of  blessing  is  clogged  by 
the  silt  of  disease,  of  plagues  and  infection  from  fetid 
cities,  by  the  filth  of  immorality  in  homes  and  of  cor- 
ruption in  state,  the  deposit  of  low  standards  of  de- 
caying religions. 

To  conserve  the  power  of  the  river  for  the  benefits 
of  commerce  and  agriculture  comes  the  engineer.  To 
purify  the  life  of  the  people  that  they  may  have  their 
part  in  the  Kingdom  which  John  saw  as  a  holy  city 
descending  from  God  out  of  Heaven,  comes  the  mis- 
sionary. And  of  all  the  special  types  of  missionaries, 
none  serve  larger  ends  than  those  who  with  their 
Bibles  bring  their  lancets  and  their  medicine  cases. 
At  first,  prejudices  against  *' foreign  medicine"  must 
be  overcome  and  skill  in  healing  demonstrated,  but 
the  day  soon  comes  when  the  doors  of  the  mission 
hospital  are  crowded  with  the  maimed  and  halt,  the 
diseased  and  unclean,  and  there  is  more  to  be  done 
than  the  one  or  two  doctors  in  charge  can  possibly 
accomplish. 

There  are  only  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  medical 
missionaries  among  the  four  hundred  million  Chinese. 
Sometimes  a  single  doctor  stands  alone  amidst  a  great 


THE  YANG  TZE  RIVER  IS 

multitude  with  no  other  doctor  to  assist  in  major 
operations  that  must  be  performed.  And  because  fur- 
loughs must  be  taken  to  rebuild  worn-out  strength, 
and  because  sometimes  doctors  die,  perhaps  of  plague 
contracted  from  a  lowly  Chinese  to  whom  the  mis- 
sionary physician  has  given  himself  in  sacrificial  serv- 
ice, hospitals  have  to  be  closed  for  a  year  and  some- 
times longer.  Time  goes  on,  and  all  too  few  of  the 
young  medical  students  in  American  schools  seem  to 
hear  the  call  of  the  sick  of  China.  There  is  little  of 
financial  compensation  and  much  of  sacrifice ;  there  are 
few  great  fees,  but  many  dire  needs.  The  appreciation 
of  those  to  whom  loving  and  skilled  help  is  given  is, 
after  all,  the  greatest  reward. 

The  Grand  Canal  touches  the  Yang  Tze  River  near 
the  city  of  Chinkiang.  Following  the  canal  northward 
for  ten  or  fifteen  miles,  one  comes  in  sight  of  the  walls 
and  the  pagoda  of  the  city  of  Yang  Chow.  (Yang 
here  is  the  same  character  as  the  Yang  of  the  river. 
Chow  means  district. )  Here  the  canal  begins  to  twist 
and  turn  as  a  serpent  until  it  passes  by  the  walls  of 
the  city,  for  an  evil  spirit  could  enter  the  city  along 
the  course  of  a  straight  stream.  The  canal  is  crowded 
with  ancient  junks,  but  much  of  the  traffic  nowadays 
along  this  single  outlet  of  Yang  Chow  is  in  steami 
launches  which  swarm  with  Chinese  who  pack  them 
to  their  limits.  Inside  the  city  walls  the  streets  are 
very  narrow  and  the  odors  that  rise  from  the  con- 
gested population  are  seldom  fragrant.  Conditions  of 
life  from  the  modern  standpoint  are  unsanitary  and 
primitive.     Chinese  doctors  of  the  old  school  have 


14  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

never  been  able  to  alleviate  such  conditions.  At  the 
best  their  services  are  inefficient  palliatives.  What  car\ 
feeling  the  pulse  in  four  or  five  different  places  and 
piercing  the  body  vi^ith  needles  to  release  the  evil 
spirits  do  to  bring  health  and  sanitation  to  such  a  city  ? 

Fifteen  years  or  so  ago,  Dr.  Philip  Evans,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Balti- 
more, entered  Yang  Chow  as  missionaries  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  apostles  of  modern  medicine.  Not  long 
thereafter,  they  were  joined  by  Dr.  Adrian  Taylor  and 
his  wife,  who  came  from  Mobile,  Alabama.  Dr. 
Taylor  had  made  a  brilliant  record  at  the  University 
of  Virginia  and  had  quite  disgusted  one  of  his  pro- 
fessors by  deciding  to  "waste"  his  talents  on  the 
''heathen  Chinese,"  when  he  might  do  so  well  in 
America.  Later  still.  Dr.  Richard  V.  Taylor,  Jr.,  with 
his  wife,  followed  his  brother  to  the  hospital  in  Yang 
Chow.  Calls  came  to  Dr.  Evans  and  Dr.  Adrian  Tay- 
lor to  give  themselves  to  training  Chinese  physicians  in 
two  different  medical  schools,  and  so  shortly  after  Dr. 
R.  V.  Taylor  was  settled  in  Yang  Chow,  he  found 
himself  alone  in  charge  of  the  men's  and  women's  hos- 
pitals with  an  enlarging  clinic  on  his  hands.  He  was 
so  occupied  with  this  work  that  he  did  not  consider 
it  feasible  to  leave  the  hospital  even  during  the  hot 
summer  months.  Day  in  and  day  out  he  ministered  to 
the  crowds  of  sick  who  came  for  treatment,  seeking 
always  to  heal  their  souls  as  well. 

Back  in  America,  there  was  a  young  physician  serv- 
ing out  his  interneship  in  a  New  York  hospital.     In 


THE  YANG  TZE  RIVER  15 

his  college  days  he  had  been  touched  by  Dr.  R.  V. 
Taylor,  when,  familiarly  known  as  Dick  Taylor,  he 
had  been  traveling  for  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment. The  inspiration  of  that  contact  with  this  en- 
thusiastic secretary,  who  was  soon  to  sail  for  China, 
lived  on  in  this  young  college  man  through  his  own 
medical  course  and  was  one  of  the  cords  that  drew 
him  steadily  toward  the  foreign  field.  Perhaps  neither 
of  them  dreamed  that  they  should  one  day  be  together 
in  a  medical  mission  in  China,  but  in  the  fall  of  19 17, 
Dr.  John  T.  Anderson  sailed  up  the  Grand  Canal  and 
landed  at  the  stone  wharf  of  Yang  Chow.  He  had 
come  to  help  share  in  the  heavy  burdens  which  were 
bearing  down  the  strong  shoulders  of  the  doctor  who 
stood  alone. 

A  short  year  passed  by  and  the  Red  Cross  Unit 
with  the  American  Expedition  in  Siberia  began  to 
send  appeals  to  missionary  doctors  in  China  to  volun- 
teer for  service  with  the  Unit.  The  call  came  to  Yang 
Chow  and  though  there  were  only  two  physicians  to 
care  for  the  host  of  patients  in  the  hospital  and  out- 
side, the  two  agreed  together  that  one  of  them  should 
go.  The  decision  fell  on  Dr.  Taylor  and  Dr.  Ander- 
son was  left  in  charge  of  the  hospital. 

On  the  night  of  November  the  twelfth,  19 18,  Dr. 
Anderson  left  for  Shanghai  to  attend  a  committee 
meeting  of  the  mission.  In  crossing  the  Yang  Tze 
River  to  take  the  train,  the  small  sampan  in  which  he 
was  riding  was  run  down  in  the  darkness  by  a  large 
river  steamer  and  he  was  thrown  into  the  river  and 
drowned.     The  great  relentless  tide  swept  his  body 


16  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

on  in  the  darkness  and  it  was  never  recovered.  After 
all,  what  could  one  life  do  pitted  against  that  stream? 
What  could  one  missionary  physician  accomplish  with 
that  Augean  task?  Wasn't  it  hopeless  in  the  begin- 
ning?   Wasn't  it  waste  in  the  end? 


CHAPTER   II:   EARLY  INDICATIONS  OF 
CHARACTER 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY   INDICATIONS   OF   CHARACTER 

A  WIDE  main  street,  very  dusty  or  deeply  mirea  ac- 
cording to  the  weather,  lined  with  dwellings  toward 
either  extremity,  and  with  stores  at  the  center  of  the 
village,  that,  for  the  most  part,  was  the  quiet  South 
Carolina  town  called  Woodruff.  In  the  section  where 
the  shops  clustered  was  a  large  frame  residence,  the 
only  home  that  faced  the  street  in  that  locality.  A 
magnificent  magnolia,  fifty  feet  high,  stood  in  the  front 
yard.  The  tree  had  been  brought  from  Charleston  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  The  Andersons  who  lived 
in  this  home  were  relatives  of  Captain  Woodruff,  the 
founder  of  the  town.  W.  A.  Anderson,  the  father, 
came  as  a  boy  of  nineteen  to  work  for  his  great-uncle, 
the  Captain.  His  own  father  had  died  when  he  was 
quite  young,  and  the  uncle  had  agreed  to  adopt  him. 
With  his  grandfather  and  mother  and  brothers,  Mr. 
Anderson  worked  nineteen  years  to  pay  off  war  debts, 
owing  for  slaves  set  free.  Lawyers  had  advised  the 
grandfather  to  repudiate  the  debts,  for  the  creditors 
were  well-to-do  and  were  not  pushing  their  claims, 
but  he  insisted  on  paying  all.  The  mother  taught 
school  to  help  earn  the  money.  The  grandfather  died 
before  the  debt  was  canceled,  but  the  boys  paid  off 

19 


20  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

the  last  dollar.  It  was  Mr.  Anderson's  great  ambition 
to  go  to  college  and  he  begged  his  uncle  with  tears  to 
let  him  go,  but  it  was  impossible  for  his  uncle,  who  had 
no  son,  to  spare  him  from  the  work  on  the  farm. 
Denied  a  college  education  himself,  he  cherished  in 
his  heart  the  purpose  to  send  all  his  children,  of  whom 
there  were  eight,  to  college  when  they  were  grown. 
Six  have  already  graduated. 

Such  the  stock  of  which  John  Todd  Anderson,  the 
oldest  son  of  William  A.  Anderson,  was  bom,  April 
20,  1887.  Limited  in  opportunity,  it  was  rich  in  in- 
tegrity and  ambition.  John  early  committed  himself 
to  Christ.  He  recalled  years  afterward  his  uncle's 
speaking  to  him  down  at  the  barn,  asking  him  whether 
he  did  not  want  to  be  a  Christian.  During  a  country 
"protracted  meeting,"  his  father  and  he  knelt  alone, 
hard  by  the  old  church,  and  John  gave  himself  to  the 
Lord,  joining  the  church  at  the  age  of  twelve.  He 
early  knew  the  sweat  of  toil,  and  he  loved  to  work 
and  worked  hard.  At  fourteen  he  planned  and  built 
a  cotton  house  to  protect  the  cotton  picked  in  the  fields 
before  it  was  taken  to  the  gin.  The  house  is  still  stand- 
ing, its  door  still  swinging  true.  He  knew  how  to 
plow  and  had  a  section  of  the  farm  as  his  own  to 
cultivate.  At  fifteen  he  began  to  help  dig  artesian 
wells  with  a  well-machine,  and  when  he  had  finished 
high  school  he  was  sent  to  Georgia  by  his  father  to 
drill  wells  on  his  own  account.  Largely  because  of 
John's  own  energy  and  initiative,  his  father's  home 
was  the  first  in  Woodruff  to  have  water  works  and 
plumbing  facilities.     John  dug  the  well,  put  up  the 


EARLY  INDICATIONS  OF  CHARACTER      21 

water  tank,  and  put  in  the  fixtures.  Later  neighbors, 
observing  these  conveniences,  asked  to  be  connected  up 
with  the  tank  and  the  town  water  system  had  its 
genesis  in  the  Anderson  back  yard. 

In  the  fall  of  1905  John  entered  college  at  Furman 
University,  Greenville,  South  Carolina.  He  came  on 
to  the  campus  carrying  the  suitcase  of  one  of  the 
upper  classmen.  His  face  bore  a  smile,  the  smile  that 
became  famous  around  the  college,  of  one  who  had 
already  learned  the  lesson — "Whoever  forces  you  to 
go  one  mile,  go  with  him  two  miles,"  and  do  it  cheer- 
fully. At  the  beginning  of  his  second  year  he  was 
called  home  to  take  up  well-drilling  again,  to  tide 
over  financial  difficulties  in  the  family.  Telegrams  had 
come  from  Georgia  saying : 

Send  your  son  John  out  here  and  he  can  get  all  the  work 
and  more  than  he  can  do. 

His  father  called  him  on  the  long  distance  telephone : 

"John,  you  know  how  I  am  pressed.  You  will  be 
worth  one  thousand  dollars  to  me  next  year  in  Georgia. 
Will  you  promise  me  to  go  and  then  return  to  Furman 
a  year  hence?" 

John  replied: 

"Father,  I  will  do  what  you  tell  me." 

His  father  said : 

"If  you  are  in  doubt  about  being  able  to  return  to 
college  later,  stay  where  you  are,  but  if  you  will  go, 
pack  your  trunk." 

John  went  to  Georgia  and  made  the  thousand  dollars. 
It  was  characteristic  of  his  relations  with  his  parents. 


22 ,         A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

His  father  has  said  that  he  never  disobeyed  him  but 
once,  and  that  time  he  came  to  him  and  acknowledged 
his  fault  saying: 

"Father,  I  will  never  disobey  you  again." 
Like  the  boy  Jesus,  whose  outlook  was  far  wider 
than  his  parents',  he  was  yet  submissive  unto  them. 

In  succeeding  summers  he  was  engaged  in  well- 
drilling,  making  funds  to  carry  him  through  school. 
The  machine  was  driven  along  the  country  roads  from 
town  to  town  where  contracts  were  secured  for  wells. 
He  was  his  own  engineer  and  repair  man  and  business 
manager.  Regular  reports  on  the  progress  made  in 
digging  were  sent  to  his  father  and  itemized  accounts. 
Some  interesting  sidelights  on  his  character  come  out 
in  letters  written  home  from  Georgia. 

Mother  was  saying  that  she  felt  so  sorry  for  me  because 
I  have  to  work  so  hard  in  the  sun.  Well,  I  am  sorry  that 
she  cannot  be  in  the  same  fix  that  I  am  and  enjoy  the 
sun  and  the  good  health  that  I  am  enjoying.  I  am  gomg  to 
take  care  of  myself  and  am  working  only  eleven  hours  a 
day. 

In  another  letter  he  writes : 

I  am  staying  at  the  hotel  here.  The  fare  is  very  poor, 
but  I  can  make  out  on  anything.  The  weather  has  been  hot, 
but  I  have  not  felt  at  all  bad  a  single  moment  that  I  have 
been  here.  My  hands  and  arms  and  face  have  been  sore 
with  blisters  and  peeling  skin.  It  has  not  hurt  me,  though, 
and  I  am  about  tough.  My  work  yesterday  was  to  rise  at 
four  and  work  on  the  boiler  until  the  negro  helpers  came 
to  work.  While  they  were  at  dinner  I  took  the  engine  to 
pieces  and  filed  the  brasses. 


EARLY  INDICATIONS  OF  CHARACTER       2S 

In  a  letter  to  his  father  he  gives  as  his  motto : 

Look  on  the  bright  side  and  work  so  hard  that  you  can- 
not think  of  the  other  side  of  life. 

As  he  was  conscientious  and  industrious  in  his  work, 
so  was  he  faithful  and  devoted  to  the  church.  On 
Sundays  he  was  regularly  at  the  services  and  attended 
Sunday  School  if  the  place  had  one.  He  invariably 
comments  on  the  sermon  in  his  Sunday  letters  home 
and  on  the  state  of  the  religious  life  of  the  community. 
For  instance : 

I  have  spent  a  Sunday  in  another  Georgia  town  about 
the  size  of  the  last  one.     I  went  to  church  this  morning, 

but  did  not  hear  of  any  Sunday  School.    Mr.  E invited 

me  to  dinner.  They  have  a  fine  large  house.  They  did  not 
go  to  church.  They  are  friendly  people,  but  full  of  this 
world. 

In  a  certain  town  where  he  went  to  drill  a  well,  no 
home  would  take  him  in  to  board  except  the  poorest 
couple  in  the  place.  There  was  only  one  wash  pan 
in  the  house  and  no  water  bucket.  Ablutions  had  to 
be  performed  at  the  well.  As  he  remained  in  town 
at  work,  some  of  the  other  people  came  to  know  that 
he  was  of  good  family  and  asked  him  to  move  over 
to  another  place.  He  refused,  however,  to  leave  the 
poor  folk  who  first  took  him  in. 

One  rainy  day  when  they  had  stopped  work,  a  man 
of  the  town  noticed  John  and  his  helpers  standing  in 
the  shelter  of  some  freight  cars.  It  was  damp  and 
chilly,  and  one  of  the  men  drew  out  a  flask  of  whiskey 


24  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

for  a  drop  of  cheer.  When  it  came  out  of  his  pocket, 
the  townsman  saw  John  speak  to  the  fellow,  but  could 
not  hear  the  words.  In  a  moment  the  flask  was  re- 
turned to  the  pocket  and  not  a  drop  was  touched  by 
any  of  them. 

His  experiences  in  Georgia  were  making  their  con- 
tribution in  training  and  development  for  the  career 
that  lay  ahead.  Already  there  were  indications  of 
those  traits  which  made  his  friends  later  regard  him 
as  the  most  Christ-like  man  they  knew. 

"In  my  reading  to-day  I  came  across  the  following 
which  I  memorized,"  he  writes  in  a  letter  from  a  town 
in  Georgia. 

My  Prayer 

In  my  home  life  may  I  be  made  a  blessing; 

A  tender  comfort  when  days  are  full  of  pain; 

Always  thinking  of  others  before  myself. 

And  in  my  daily  calling  may  I  work  not  for  the  wages  I 

may  receive, 
But  so  as  to  please  Jesus,  my  Master. 
In  my  inner  life  I  desire  to  be  kept  pure  and  holy. 
O  Holy  and  Spotless  One,  be  in  me  a  crystal  fountain  of 

purity. 
Teach  me  what  my  talents  are  and  help  me  to  make  the 

two  four  and  the  five  ten. 


CHAPTER  III:  AT  FURMAN 


CHAPTER  III 


AT   FURMAN 


The  following  fall  John  was  back  in  Furman  again. 
The  college  belongs  to  that  group  of  small  colleges, 
definitely  Christian  in  purpose,  which  has  produced 
so  much  of  the  finest  leadership  in  America.  Its 
traditions  are  healthily  and  honestly  religious.  It  is 
"a  brotherhood  for  character  building  and  a  fellow- 
ship in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge."  Because  of  the 
moderate  size  of  the  student  body  there  is  a  real  com- 
munity of  interest  and  the  students  enter  fully  into 
the  whole  life  of  the  institution.  The  daily  chapel 
services  are  no  perfunctory  affair,  nor  is  the  athletic 
and  social  life  less  hearty  than  in  larger  institutions, 
and  the  close  contact  of  student  and  professor  affords 
special  intellectual  advantages. 

John  took  his  full  share  in  all  the  life  of  the  col- 
lege. His  cheery  disposition  and  unselfish  spirit  made 
him  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  school.  Not  par- 
ticularly skillful  in  athletics  though  physically  well- 
built,  he  faithfully  played  his  part  on  the  "scrubs," 
and  was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  athletic  teams. 
He  was  no  saint  who  thought  himself  too  good  to 
mix  with  other  men.     His  ability  to  manage  affairs 

27 


28  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

laid  him  open  to  many  calls  for  his  services.  If  there 
was  a  college  picnic  or  banquet  or  reception,  he  was 
sure  to  have  the  chief  responsibility  for  the  arrange- 
ments. He  decorated  the  halls  for  public  functions; 
he  was  in  the  kitchen  when  refreshments  were  to  be 
served.  He  was  student  manager  of  the  college  dormi- 
tory and  dining-room,  business  manager  of  the  college 
monthly  and  the  year  book,  and  held  many  other  such 
offices  in  the  various  student  organizations.  As  one 
of  his  fellow  students  has  said : 

"He  was  the  servant  of  the  student  body  while  at 
Furman.    He  made  opportunities  to  serve." 

A  fellow  student  fallen  sick,  it  was  John  who  nursed 
him,  who  went  to  the  kitchen  and  prepared  him  palata- 
ble food.  These  things  he  loved  rather  than  his  books, 
and  because  there  were  so  many  things  that  called  for 
his  time  outside  of  the  class-room,  he  did  not  usually 
stand  well  in  his  classes.  But  there  is  no  man  who 
went  through  Furman  in  those  years  who  stood  higher 
in  the  estimation  of  the  faculty.  The  President  re- 
marked many  times: 

"John  Anderson  has  a  genius  for  helpfulness." 

And  one  of  the  professors  has  written : 

What  John  Anderson  was  at  the  end,  he  was  at  the  be- 
ginning of  my  acquaintance  with  him.  Throughout  his 
student  years  in  Furman,  he  ministered  to  the  physical  needs 
of  fellow  students.  He  was  almost  as  much  of  a  physician 
then  as  he  was  afterwards.  And  in  all  of  these  ministra- 
tions one  felt  that  John  Anderson  was  first  a  Christian,  and 
second,  a  physician.  He  was  one  of  the  purest  spirits  I 
have  ever  known. 


AT  FURMAN  29 

In  this  second  year  at  college,  Dr.  W.  W.  Hamilton, 
at  that  time  a  pastor  and  later  head  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Evangelism  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion, came  to  Greenville  for  a  week  of  meetings  in  the 
church  attended  by  most  of  the  college  students.  In 
a  midnight  prayer-meeting  which  lasted  until  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  John  made  his  full  surrender 
to  Christ  and  from  that  time  on  heart  and  soul  were 
dedicated  to  the  Master's  service,  looking  toward  the 
day  when  he  would  be  a  missionary.  He  became  a 
man  of  one  purpose.  Everything  he  did  subsequently 
was  related  to  that  "one  thing  I  do."  Moreover,  he 
did  not  postpone  his  missionary  service  until  he  was 
in  China.  The  two  things  that  were  nearest  his  heart 
from  that  time  forward  were  the  college  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  and  the  Student  Volunteer  Band. 
He  became  an  officer  in  both  organizations,  and  served 
with  contagious  enthusiasm  and  energy.  Dr.  George 
W.  Truett  came  for  an  evangelistic  campaign  one 
year,  and  John  prepared  a  list  of  the  college  men  who 
were  not  Christians,  and  called  some  of  his  friends 
together  for  daily  prayer  that  they  might  be  saved. 
He  also  talked  to  many  of  them  personally  and  ar- 
ranged conferences  for  them  with  ministers  and 
friends.  He  would  take  his  place  beside  a  timid,  un- 
saved fellow  student  when  the  invitation  was  given 
and  go  with  him  tb  the  front  of  the  church.  Always 
was  he  concerned  that  his  friends  should  find  the 
same  high  joy  in  the  friendship  of  Christ  that  he 
himself  knew. 

Greenville  is  a  cotton  mill  center.  There  are  fourteen 


so  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

or  fifteen  large  mills  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  On 
a  visit  to  the  Union  Bleachery  Mill,  John  was  so  im- 
pressed with  the  religious  needs  of  the  mill  village 
that  he  subsequently  organized  a  Sunday  School  there 
and  himself  taught  one  of  the  classes.  Six  of  the 
forty  girls  in  his  class  were  converted,  and  since  that 
time,  as  an  outgrowth  of  that  Sunday  School,  a  church 
has  been  organized.  Besides  this  service  he  frequently 
visited  the  county  jail  with  a  deputation  from  the  col- 
lege Y.  M.  C.  A.,  holding  meetings  there  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  giving  literature  to  the  prisoners  and  con- 
versing with  them  personally. 

He  once  remarked  of  a  man  who  had  become  a 
missionary : 

"He  did  not  do  anything  for  missions  while  he  was 
in  school  in  America.  I  wonder  how  he  can  do  any 
good  on  the  foreign  field." 

John  set  himself  to  his  endeavors  so  that  this  should 
not  be  said  of  him.  He  had  a  prayer  list  of  friends 
whom  he  sought  to  influence  to  volunteer  for  foreign 
missionary  service.  It  would  be  diflicult  tO'  calculate 
the  number  of  those  who  had  the  opportunities  for 
service  in  lands  across  the  sea  first  brought  to  their 
attention  by  John  Anderson,  in  a  word  or  the  gift  of  a 
pamphlet  or  a  book.  There  are  many  who  have  borne 
testimony  to  this  influence,  as,  for  instance,  a  college- 
mate  who  went  subsequently  to  South  America  as  a 
missionary. 

**John  made  a  deeper  impression  upon  me  than  any 
other  young  man  that  I  ever  met.  I  remember  that 
while  at  Furman,  he  had  me  on  his  prayer  list,  asking 


DR.    ANDERSON   IN    HIS    HOSPITAL   UNIFORM 


AT  FURMAN  31 

that  God  would  send  me  to  the  foreign  field.  He  ar- 
ranged conferences  for  me  with  Student  Volunteer 
Secretaries.  I  remember  especially  one  he  arranged 
with  Dr.  Truett  which  helped  me  greatly  to  surrender 
my  life  for  foreign  service." 

John  was  a  member  of  deputation  teams  which  went 
from  the  Volunteer  Band  into  the  surrounding  churches 
to  speak  on  Africa  or  China  or  Japan  or  some  phase  of 
missionary  enterprise.  Though  not  an  easy  speaker 
he  never  failed  to  impress  by  his  earnestness  and  en- 
thusiasm. Most  of  all  did  his  friendliness  and  sunny 
smile  attract  people  to  the  cause  he  represented.  As 
one  said  : 

"He  was  not  a  very  fine  speaker,  but  he  lived  his 
religion  more  than  he  spoke  it." 

At  the  summer  Student  Conference  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
at  Montreat,  N.  C,  in  1908,  John  was  one  of  a  group 
of  five  who  met  together  and  laid  plans  for  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Student  Volunteers  of  the  South 
Carolina  colleges  into  a  State  Volunteer  Union,  with 
the  object  of  increasing  the  missionary  interest  of  the 
college  students.  The  first  meeting  of  this  Union  was 
held  in  Columbia  in  the  spring  of  1909  with  only  a 
very  few  delegates  in  attendance.  In  the  spring  of 
19 10,  John  was  the  principal  factor  in  arranging  for 
a  meeting  in  Greenville.  There  were  about  forty  dele- 
gates from  the  different  colleges  present  and  they  had 
a  good  conference.  John  McEachern,  now  a  mission- 
ary in  Korea,  was  elected  President  for  the  ensuing 
year  and  John  Anderson,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  and 
together  they  perfected  the  organization  and  got  the 


32  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

Union  on  its  feet.  The  next  year  the  number  of  dele- 
gates was  doubled  and  there  was  a  strong  group  of 
missionary  leaders  present.  The  expenses  of  the  or- 
ganization had  been  advanced  by  the  officers,  but  that 
was  cleared  up  and  since  that  time  the  Union  has  held 
regular  annual  meetings  and  exerted  an  increasingly 
important  influence  in  the  South  Carolina  colleges. 
What  is  now  the  regularly  published  Bulletin  of  the 
Union  was  once  brought  out  by  John  Anderson 
monthly  on  a  mimeograph  and  mailed  by  him  to  the 
members  of  the  Union.  It  took  a  good  deal  of  time 
in  connection  with  his  other  college  activities,  but  he 
never  seemed  to  tire  of  doing  this  service.  He  had 
the  help  of  a  few  others  in  this  work,  but  his  was  the 
principal  responsibility. 

In  the  winter  of  1909-10  he  was  chosen  as  one  of 
three  men  to  represent  the  college  at  the  Quadren- 
nial Student  Volunteer  Convention  at  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
There  were  nearly  four  thousand  delegates  from 
the  colleges  of  Canada  and  the  United  States  who  met 
for  five  days  in  the  great  Convention  Hall.  In  that 
throng  there  was  no  one  who  responded  more  whole- 
heartedly than  John  Anderson  to  the  appeals  of  the 
representatives  of  the  mission  lands  of  the  earth,  the 
Chinese,  the  men  of  India,  the  Africans,  the  foreign 
missionaries  and  the  secretaries  of  the  mission  boards. 
The  white  harvest  fields  spread  out  before  his  eyes 
by  these  speakers  confirmed  in  him  his  purpose  to  help 
answer  the  prayers  for  more  laborers  by  the  offering 
of  his  own  life.  And  when  he  had  returned  to  the 
college  again  after  those  high  days,  for  months  he  was 


AT  FURMAN  3S 

handing  on  to  his  fellow  students  and  to  church  con- 
gregations near  at  hand,  the  visions  and  inspirations 
that  came  to  him  in  the  convention. 

There  is  a  revelation  of  what  was  behind  this  full- 
ness of  life  and  abandon  of  service,  in  one  or  two  of 
his  home  letters  at  this  time.  A  letter  dated  April  15, 
19 10,  contains  the  following: 

I  believe  more  and  more  in  giving  the  first  half  hour  of 
every  day  to  God  in  prayer.  If  you  do  this  you  will  have 
something  to  think  on  during  the  day.  You  will  have  God 
with  you  that  day  to  help  you  battle  with  the  evils  of  that  day. 
At  night  you  are  tired  and  sleepy  and  do  not  remember 
anything  you  have  read  in  your  Bible.  You  need  the  pro- 
tection of  God  through  the  night,  but  the  devil  does  most 
of  his  w^ork  in  your  life  through  the  day  through  men  with 
whom  you  come  in  contact. 

In  another  letter  of  the  same  year  he  wrote : 

I  believe  more  and  more  in  prayer.  You  can  get  what 
you  pray  for  if  you  are  in  earnest  and  if  the  request  is 
best  for  you.  Prayer  is  the  greatest  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  living  men.  It  is  the  greatest  lever  there  is.  You  can- 
not get  a  lever  long  enough  or  with  the  right  purchase  to 
turn  the  world  over,  but  prayer  is  able  to  turn  it  over.  The 
person  who  is  the  sincerest  Christian  is  the  man  of  prayer. 
He  is  the  man  who  can  go  out  alone  and  talk  to  God  aloud, 
feeling  that  he  is  within  a  few  feet  of  Him. 

Again : 

One's  motto  should  be:  Better  to-day  than  yesterday.  It 
is  not  expected  that  every  one  shall  be  a  great  man  or  a 
great  woman,  but  it  is  expected  that  they  shall  be  better  to- 
day than  yesterday. 


54  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

To  many  of  his  fellow  students,  the  most  remark- 
able characteristic  of  John  Anderson  was  his  genuine 
humility.  There  was  nothing  of  Uriah  Heep  in  his 
self -depreciation  and  desire  to  keep  himself  in  the 
background.  He  was  invariably  out  of  sight  when  the 
time  came  to  give  credit  to  those  who  had  shared  in 
some  enterprise.  If  he  was  caught  in  the  limelight, 
he  would  blush  like  a  girl,  and  pass  off  any  compli- 
ment with  ''Oh,  shucks !"    As  a  friend  has  remarked : 

''I  have  never  known  a  person  who  had  a  greater 
abhorrence  of  doing  good  to  be  seen  of  men." 


CHAPTER  IV:  BEGINNING  THE  STUDY 
OF  MEDICINE 


CHAPTER  IV 

BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE 

History,  langxiages,  the  classics,  never  seemed  to 
interest  John  Anderson,  and  as  a  consequence  his  col- 
lege record  in  these  studies  did  not  secure  for  him  his 
Arts  degree  at  Furman.  But  he  became  a  new  man 
when  he  entered  the  medical  class  at  Wake  Forest  Col- 
lege, North  CaroHna,  in  the  fall  of  1910.  It  was  like 
the  ball  of  the  femur  falling  into  its  socket  after  a 
dislocation.  Instead  of  dreading  to  pick  up  a  book  as 
before,  now  it  was  early  and  late  to  the  study  of 
anatomy,  physiology,  histology  and  the  rest.  Dis- 
section was  his  fascination.  The  point  of  interest  and 
attention  having  been  touched,  examination  marks 
leaped  away  up.  At  times  he  led  the  class.  He  had 
found  his  groove  at  last. 

His  love  for  the  study  of  medicine  and  the  more 
stringent  demand  on  his  time  made  by  these  studies, 
did  not  lessen  his  interest  in  the  Christian  activities  of 
the  college.  He  was  preparing  to  be  a  missionary  as 
well  as  a  physician  and  his  concern  was  that  his  life 
should  count  for  his  Master  in  school  as  well  as  later 
in  China.  Wake  Forest  College  had  then  about  four 
hundred  students.  Of  these,  perhaps  fifty  were  in  the 
medical  department,  which  gives  the  first  two  years  of 

37 


38  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

the  regular  course  for  the  M.  D.  degree.  The  College 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  the  year  he  entered  was  going  along  at  a 
poor  dying  rate.  Almost  the  only  individuals  who  at- 
tended the  weekly  meetings  were  those  who  were  ex- 
pecting to  be  ministers,  and  the  other  students  left 
them  and  their  prayer-meetings  severely  alone.  Like 
many  churches  it  was  a  calm  and  sure  retreat  for  the 
pious,  not  an  organization  directed  toward  the  elevating 
and  purifying  of  the  campus  life.  If  there  was  one 
thing  that  made  John  impatient  it  was  the  type  of 
Christian  who  thinks  himself  too  good  to  be  con- 
taminated by  association  with  "worldly  men."  ''He 
that  saveth  his  life,  loseth  it" — was  a  vital  word  to 
him.  The  situation  challenged  him  to  action.  He 
went  out  and  played  on  the  scrub  football  team  for 
the  sake  of  the  influence  it  would  give  him  with  the 
fellows,  though  he  often  remarked  that  it  was  hard 
to  take  the  time  and  the  bruises  to  do  it.  The  ''publi- 
cans and  sinners"  liked  him.  He  never  compromised 
with  their  sin,  however.  And  they  respected  him  for 
his  convictions.  It  was  not  long  before  he  had  been 
elected  to  the  cabinet  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  with  his 
hands  on  the  weekly  program,  he  soon  had  men  com- 
ing to  the  meetings  who  formerly  would  not  touch 
the  door  with  a  ten- foot  pole.  Live  speakers  from 
nearby  cities  were  invited  to  address  the  men  instead 
of  depending  on  a  few  ministerial  students  to  *'lead 
the  devotions." 

In  the  spring  of  that  session,  John  took  a  large  part 
in  organizing  a  mission  study  canvass  of  the  college 
which  enrolled  about  half  of  the  students  in  the  study 


BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE     39 

of  "Negro  Life  in  the  South.'*  He  led  a  class  himself 
in  which  some  of  the  roughest  men  in  school  were 
members.  It  was  a  joke  among  those  w^ho  knew  the 
crowd  that  a  crap  game  had  to  be  broken  up  every 
Sunday  night  when  they  were  rounded  up  for  the 
class  meeting.     In  a  letter  he  speaks  of  this  class: 

I  am  leading  a  mission  study  class  here  in  a  book  en- 
titled "Negro  Life  in  the  South."  It  is  fine.  This  morning 
before  Sunday  School  I  went  out  to  see  if  I  could  find  the 
preacher  of  one  of  the  Negro  churches  to  get  his  per- 
mission to  carry  my  class  to  hear  him  to-night.  He  said, 
"Yes,"  in  a  real  kind  of  way.  I  told  him  why  we  wanted 
to  come,  of  our  duty  to  help  the  darkies,  for  we  are  alike 
in  that  we  have  the  same  God,  are  made  alike  in  every  way 
except  that  their  skin  is  pigmented,  which  makes  them  black. 
I  went  to  one  home  and  asked  for  this  preacher  and  the 
boy  said  that  he  was  about  a  mile  away  in  a  certain  direc- 
tion at  a  certain  house.  I  asked  the  boy  to  go  with  me 
and  show  me  the  place.  I  believe  that  boy  is  better  than 
the  average  white  one.  He  is  twelve  years  old,  in  the  eighth 
grade,  has  been  a  Christian  for  four  years,  reads  his  Bible 
every  morning,  is  an  humble  fellow.  His  ambition  is  to  be 
a  school  teacher  for  the  good  he  can  do  and  not  for  the 
money  he  can  make.  I  found  out  many  other  things  of 
interest  about  him.  This  is  the  most  interesting  study  I 
ever  was  in. 

Later  he  wrote : 

I  carried  my  mission  study  class  to  the  colored  Presby- 
terian Church  last  Sunday  night  for  the  service  there.  We 
were  all  surprised  by  the  good  worship  they  had.  We  came 
away  feeling  that  the  darkies  are  not  so  far  behind  as 
we  think  they  are.  We  are  going  to  take  a  religious  census 
of  this  place  and  we  think  we  shall  get  some  interesting  in- 
formation. 


40  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

There  was  no  Student  Volunteer  Band  in  the  col- 
lege, but  before  half  the  year  had  passed  John  had 
found  two  or  three  others  who  were  looking  forward 
to  missionary  service  who  agreed  to  meet  Sunday 
afternoons  in  his  room,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year 
there  was  a  band  of  eight  or  ten  men  gathered  to- 
gether. Until  the  spring  meeting  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina Volunteer  Union,  he  held  the  office  of  Secretary, 
and  prepared  the  monthly  news  letter  as  he  had  done  in 
Furman.  He  brought  his  typewriter  and  mimeograph 
with  him  to  Wake  Forest  and  most  of  his  spare  mo- 
ments were  spent  in  using  them.  His  correspondence 
was  voluminous.  The  South  Carolina  Union  con- 
ference which  was  held  at  Rock  Hill  in  Winthrop 
College  that  spring  was  largely  of  his  planning.  He 
helped  secure  the  speakers,  made  arrangements  for 
registration  and  so  on.  He  had  a  genius  for  organiza- 
tion and  a  great  capacity  for  detail. 

John  was  always  driving  for  definite  results.  In  a 
letter  to  his  mother  after  the  Rock  Hill  conference  this 
is  illustrated.  He  had  been  very  anxious  for  one  of 
his  sisters  to  attend  the  meeting  and  she  finally  agreed 
to  go.     He  writes : 

I  hope  Lois  will  tell  you  about  the  conference  at  Rock 
Hill.  Ask  her  some  of  the  following  questions.  How  did 
she  like  Winthrop?  The  dining-room?.  The  music  at  the 
conference?  The  best  songs  she  heard?  The  exhibit?  Mr. 
Turner  and  the  other  speakers?  How  did  she  like  the  dele- 
gates who  attended?  Have  her  tell  you  about  a  number  of 
addresses.  Have  her  tell  you  the  most  interesting  thing  she 
saw  on  the  trip.  What  were  the  things  that  impressed  her 
most?    Ask  her  if  she  were  to  sum  it  all  up,  what  would  she 


BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE     41 

say  was  the  message  for  her  life?    I  suppose  you  see  that  I 
am  after  getting  her  to  tell  you  all  about  it. 

Relieved  of  his  responsibility  in  the  South  Carolina 
Union  on  returning  to  Wake  Forest  after  the  con- 
ference he  wrote: 

I  will  bring  all  my  marks  up  now  that  I  am  done  with 
the  South  Carolina  Volunteer  Union.  I  am  not  sorry, 
though,  for  what  I  have  done  for  the  Union,  but  now  that 
it  is  on  its  feet  it  ought  to  go  forward. 

Though  he  had  something  like  fifteen  hours  of 
recitations  and  twenty-three  hours  of  laboratory  a 
week,  it  was  not  long  before  the  fact  that  North  Caro- 
lina had  no  Volunteer  Union  at  work  for  foreign  mis- 
sions in  the  colleges,  was  on  his  mind.  The  first  step 
was  the  organization  of  the  Wake  County  Union  which 
included  the  schools  near  Raleigh.  One  or  two  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  spring  of  191 1,  and  the  next 
year  a  State  Union  was  launched.  All  these  things 
were  done  as  a  new  student  in  his  first  year  at  Wake 
Forest. 

In  his  second  year,  John  organized  a  mission  study 
class  of  his  fellow  medical  students  and  led  it  himself. 
He  had  asked  permission  to  start  the  class  of  the  dean 
of  medicine  who  had  replied : 

''You'll  be  a  good  one  if  you  get  those  fellows  into 
a  mission  study  class,  but  go  to  it.'* 

Let  one  of  his  own  letters  tell  the  story. 

I  dislike  to  write  a  letter  of  the  nature  of  this  one  for  it 
seems  selfish.  I  trust  that  you  will  not  look  at  it  in  that  way, 
for  I  desire  that  it  be  read  in  the  spirit  that  God  can  use 


42  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

men  for  spreading  His  message.  I  do  not  know  of  a  year 
that  God  has  done  more  for  me  or  used  me  more  in  help- 
ing those  that  I  associate  with.  He  has  been  more  real 
to  me  this  session  than  ever  before. 

This  session  began  with  everything  going  wrong  and  it 
looked  like  the  Christian  work  and  the  Christian  spirit  at 
this  place  was  on  the  decline.  Everything  seemed  to  go 
wrong  and  we  could  not  reach  those  that  we  desired  to 
touch.  During  the  summer  we  made  a  number  of  plans 
as  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  to  be  started  here  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  session.  Most  of  these  plans  were  thrown 
aside  as  the  fellows  one  after  another  would  fall  down  on 
their  jobs.  I  had  worked  with  the  faculty  in  the  summer  in 
regard  to  the  North  Carolina  Bible  Institute  coming  to 
Wake  Forest,  as  it  is  eight  years  old  and  had  never  met  at 
this  place.  The  faculty  said  that  the  Institute  could  come 
if  I  would  stand  good  for  the  entertainment  of  one  hundred 
men.  We  needed  that  many  delegates  in  order  to  get  Drs. 
Weatherford  and  Cooper  to  attend.  I  undertook  to  arrange 
for  the  entertainment  and  last  week  we  had  the  Institute. 
One  hundred  and  five  delegates  came  in  on  Thursday  and 
stayed  over  Sunday.  On  Monday  and  Tuesday  Mr.  Cooper 
stayed  over  to  speak  to  the  college.  The  professors  say 
that  we  had  the  best  evangelistic  meetings  that  the  college 
has  ever  had  and  that  the  spirit  is  better  than  it  has  ever 
been.  Many  of  the  fellows  confessed  to  cheating,  smoking, 
betting,  gambling,  cursing,  not  studying  the  Bible,  winning 
debates  through  taking  unfair  advantages,  and  so  on,  and 
over  two  hundred  agreed  to  study  the  Bible  daily. 

I  should  have  said  something  about  the  work  that  we  are 
trying  to  do  in  mission  study.  Last  spring  we  had  over  two 
hundred  men  enrolled  in  mission  study  and  this  year  after 
the  canvass  was  made  we  had  only  a  little  over  ninety.  It 
fell  to  my  lot  to  take  a  class  of  medical  students  of  my  own 
medical  year.  There  are  fourteen  of  us,  all  swear  but  one, 
some  gamble,  all  use  tobacco  but  one,  three  are  not  mem- 


BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE     43 

bers  of  the  church,  and  the  others  are  not  living  as  they 
should.  It  was  a  hard  task  to  think  of  trying  to  get  these 
fellows  into  a  mission  study  class  when  you  are  thrown 
with  them  every  day  and  they  josh  you  about  not  cursing, 
not  using  tobacco,  several  of  them  saying  that  they  were 
going  to  put  me  out  and  make  me  stop  medicine.  God  does 
not  want  a  man  to  undertake  a  task  that  is  easy,  but  He 
wants  him  to  be  dependent  on  Him  for  help.  With  Him 
as  my  helper  I  attempted  to  line  up  these  men  in  this  work. 
It  was  hard  to  begin  and  I  put  it  off  for  several  days,  but 
I  did  begin  and  I  approached  every  man  in  the  class  per- 
sonally about  the  matter.  Every  one  agreed  with  me  heartily 
and  seemed  to  be  very  willing  to  go  into  such  a  study.  The 
last  man  that  I  approached  was  about  as  rough  as  any  in  the 
class.  After  I  placed  the  matter  before  him  he  said:  "Well, 
John,  you  know  that  I  am  not  a  Christian  nor  living  the 
life  that  I  should,  but  if  there  is  any  good  in  it,  I  want  to 
help  you  out." 

The  class  has  had  four  meetings  and  only  four  men  have 
been  absent,  three  from  neglect  and  one  from  sickness.  We 
have  been  having  good  meetings,  every  man  taking  part  in 
the  discussion  and  I  have  never  been  in  a  mission  study 
class  of  any  kind  where  there  was  more  interest.  Those 
fellov/s  have  been  thinking  about  their  lives  and  one  of  them 
who  is  not  a  Christian  has  said  that  he  is  going  to  try  and 
live  a  better  life.  Oh,  how  I  long  for  these  fellows  to  be 
brought  into  the  personal  friendship  of  Jesus.  This  is  my 
prayer,  that  every  man  in  this  class  will  become  a  Christian 
and  live  as  a  Christian  each  day.  Some  of  the  men  in  this 
class  have  begun  daily  Bible  study. 

At  the  close  of  the  evangelistic  services  spoken  of  above, 
Mr.  Cooper  helped  us  set  up  a  plan  to  get  every  man  who 
is  not  in  Sunday  School  into  Bible  study.  There  are  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  who  do  not  attend  Sunday  School, 
the  toughest  fellows  in  the  place.  Every  man  I  have  asked 
to  join  me  in  this  study  has  agreed,  and  the  Dean  says  that 


ii^  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

I  have  the  worst  bunch.  I  have  sixteen  to  solicit  and  five 
of  them  are  away  on  a  football  trip.  I  have  asked  over 
half  of  them  already.  Two  fellows  told  me  that  if  I  wanted 
to  get  those  fellows  I  would  have  to  get  a  keg  of  beer  or 
something  stronger  to  get  them  there.  How  I  need  your 
prayers  to  help  me  in  this  work.  I  have  two  of  the  worst 
fellows  in  this  school,  so  considered  by  many,  but  I  do 
not  think  so  for  they  have  big  hearts.  Both  of  these  fellows 
are  trying  to  live  a  better  life.  I  have  been  interested  in 
one  of  these  men  ever  since  I  came  here  and  used  to  say, 
as  I  had  to  eat  at  the  table  beside  him  when  I  first  came, 
that  I  could  hardly  stand  him,  he  was  so  wicked  and  filthy. 
I  stuck  to  him,  however,  and  in  a  talk  with  him  last  week 
just  before  the  meetings,  he  said  two  things  that  were  of 
especial  interest  to  me.  He  said  that  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  kind  of  life  he  was  living  and  that  he  did  not 
have  any  friends.  There  were  two  fellows  that  he  con- 
sidered his  friends,  some  one  else  and  me.  No  one  can  tell 
how  much  good  it  did  me  to  hear  him  say  this.  He  had 
two  talks  with  Mr.  Cooper  and  he  is  on  his  feet,  and  has 
not  said  anything  out  of  the  way  nor  done  anything  which 
he  should  not  this  week.  He  is  trying  to  live  a  Christian 
life.  He  said  Tuesday  night  that  he  was  considered  the 
meanest,  filthiest,  dirtiest  fellow  in  school  and  that  he  knew 
that  he  was,  but  with  the  help  of  God  he  was  going  to  try 
and  live  a  straight  life  from  now  on. 

Please  let  me  drop  out  of  this  letter  and  give  God  all  the 
credit.  My  heart's  desire  is  expressed  in  the  following,  what- 
ever the  cost  that  must  be  paid: 

"There  are  hermit  souls  that  live  withdrawn 

In  the  place  of  their  self-content: 
There  are  souls  like  stars,  that  dwell  apart, 

In  a  fellowless  firmament: 
There  are  pioneer  souls  that  blaze  their  paths 

Where  highways  never  ran — 


BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE     45 

But  let  me  live  by  the  side  of  the  road 
And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

Where  the  race  of  men  pass  by — 
The  men  who  are  good  and  the  men  who  are  bad, 

As  good  and  as  bad  as  I. 
I  would  not  sit  in  the  scorner's  seat, 

Or  hurl  the  cynic's  ban — 
Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

I  see  from  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road, 

By  the  side  of  the  highway  of  life. 
The  men  who  press  with  the  ardor  of  hope. 

The  men  who  faint  with  strife: 
But  I  turn  not  away  from  their  smiles  nor  their  tears. 

Both  part  of  an  infinite  plan — 
Let  me  live  in  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man." 

How  I  do  yearn  to  be  of  service,  an  humble  unselfish  serv- 
ant to  my  fellow  students  and  every  one  with  whom  I  come 
in  contact.  No  greater  thing  can  you  do  for  me  than  to 
pray  for  me.  My  prayer  is  for  you  and  may  our  prayers 
be  united  in  a  petition  that  God  will  take  our  selfish  lives 
and  use  them  each  day  as  He  sees  best,  making  us  willing 
to  let  Him  come  in  and  take  full  possession  of  us  each 
moment. 

One  of  John's  most  prized  possessions  was  a  watch 
fob  which  he  wore  always,  a  silver  skull  and  cross- 
bones,  presented  to  him  by  the  members  of  that  medical 
mission  study  class  when  the  year  was  over,  in  ap- 
preciation of  what  he  had  done  for  them. 


46  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

Let  no  one  think  that  John  Anderson's  fideHty  to  his 
Master  meant  the  living  of  a  restricted  and  narrow  life 
in  college.  Although  he  was  only  at  Wake  Forest  for 
two  years,  he  was  elected  student  manager  of  athletics 
by  the  Alumni  Athletic  Association.  He  was  full  of 
fun  and  fond  of  practical  jokes.  He  knew  how  to  take 
the  good-natured  jibes  of  his  fellows  with  a  smile 
when  they  called  him  *'the  preacher-medico" — and  he 
kept  right  on  with  his  work  for  Christ.  He  knew 
how  to  have  a  good  time  with  the  fellows,  but  he  never 
lowered  his  standards  to  do  it. 

At  the  close  of  the  college  year  he  wrote: 

The  last  three  examinations  were  awfully  hard.  I  do 
not  like  to  claim  any  praise  if  there  be  any  for  not 
studying  on  Sunday.  But  out  of  thirty  medical  students  I 
was  the  only  one  who  did  not  study  yesterday.  There  was 
only  one  other  who  attended  any  form  of  service  yesterday 
and  he  attended  only  in  the  morning.  I  had  rather  flunk 
than  do  that.  I  do  not  believe  they  gain  anything  by 
studying  on  Sunday.  I  suppose  that  three-fourths  of  the 
boys  here  study  on  that  day. 

Other  letters  written  from  time  to  time  during  these 
two  years  have  extracts  worth  quoting : 

I  am  sorry  to  know  that  Mamma  is  sick  and  I  hope  she 
will  soon  be  up.  She  ought  to  get  out  some,  for  it  is  enough 
to  make  any  one  sick  to  stay  at  home  all  the  time.  I  went 
to  Raleigh  to  the  fair  some  time  ago  for  that  reason  and  no 
other.  I  think  that  one  should  have  a  rest  from  everything 
or  a  change  from  the  old  things,  except  religion  which  you 
can  carry  with  you.  Dr.  Brown  says  that  a  person  need 
never  have  a  vacation  from  religion. 


DR.    AND    MRS.    ANDERSON    AND    THEIR   SON   IN 
YANG   CHOW 


ON   THE    WAY   TO    HWANGHSIEN 

Dr.  Anderson  carrying  his  Chinese  teacher 
across  a  river  ford  on  the  way  overland  in 
Shantung.  This  journey  of  SO  miles  from 
Chefoo  to  Hwanghsien  was  undertaken  in 
order  to  serve  in  a  difficult  case  when  there 
was  no  foreign  doctor  to  attend  a  missionary 
mother. 


BEGINNING  THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE     47 

It  is  too  bad  about  H .    I  was  just  reading  for  a  few 

moments  as  I  came  from  dinner  after  being  in  the  laboratory- 
all  the  morning.  I  picked  up  a  book  just  come  which  is  the 
life  of  Z.  S.  Loftis  who  went  out  as  a  missionary  doctor  and 
only  lived  one  year.  He  entered  a  field  that  no  missionary 
had  ever  been  in  and  he  was  there  only  a  few  days.  His 
last  two  descriptions  were  of  patients  which  he  had,  two 
dying  without  any  hope  whatever.    It  is  awful  to  think  that 

H has  passed  away  in  a  Christian  home  and  community 

without  any  hope  of  the  life  eternal.  One  life  is  as  much 
value  in  the  sight  of  God  as  another,  but  how  it  grieves  us 
when  we  think  of  friends  dying  without  hope.  But  what  do 
we  think  when  we  know  of  millions  dying  in  non-Christian 
lands  in  the  same  way  every  day?  This  is  the  thought  that 
grips  me  so  at  times  that  I  think  that  I  had  rather  have  my 
life  multiplied  a  number  of  times  than  to  have  anything  else 
that  any  one  could  desire. 

John  had  a  way  of  helping  around  the  kitchen  and 
with  the  housework  when  he  was  home  for  vacation 
visits.  He  lightened  the  work  of  his  mother  and  sisters 
by  assisting  in  the  cooking,  in  serving  the  table,  and 
in  the  backyard  chores.  Returning  to  college  after  the 
Christmas  holidays  he  writes: 

I  tried  to  make  Christmas  a  rest  for  myself  and  to  serve 
3'ou  all  the  balance  of  my  time.  I  am  sorry  that  I  did  not 
do  more  to  make  others  enjoy  the  occasion.  I  like  to  look 
at  Christmas  as  a  time  of  real  pleasure.  I  like  to  look  at 
it  as  a  time  for  being  drawn  closer  to  God  and  making  Jesus 
a  closer,  dearer  friend.  I  like  to  look  at  Christmas  as  Mrs. 
Taylor  did  once  in  China.  Her  prayer  and  work  was  to 
present  Jesus  and  His  love  to  many.  She  tried  to  make  Jesus 
her  gift  to  others  and  eleven  accepted  Him  that  day.  From 
now  on  I  hope  to  be  of  service  to  others  at  this  time. 


48  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

In  writing  to  one  of  his  sisters  on  her  engagement 
he  says : 

Yes,  F is  as  solid  or  true  a  man,  I  should  say,  as 

could  be  found  anywhere.  I  have  more  confidence  in  him 
than  in  myself.  I  have  seen  bigger  sports,  fellows  that  I 
thought  could  make  more  money,  having  more  "brass,"  but 
that  does  not  count  in  my  valuation  of  a  man.  He  is  a 
Christian  in  the  truest  sense. 

How  often  the  excuse  is  met  by  those  who  are  trying 
to  enlist  their  fellows  in  some  active  Christian  service 
— ^"I  have  no  time  to  spare."  And  how  shallow  and 
feeble  such  an  excuse  appears  in  the  light  of  a  life 
like  this. 


CHAPTER  V:  THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN 
KENTUCKY 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN   KENTUCKY 

The  well  diggings  business  of  W.  A.  Anderson  &  Son 
was  carried  on  while  John  was  in  college  by  a  man 
from  Pennsylvania  who  was  engaged  to  run  the  ma- 
chine. The  actual  management  of  the  business  was 
done  by  John  Anderson  through  correspondence  with 
this  man  from  Wake  Forest.  The  man  had  to  be 
"jacked  up"  ever}^  now  and  then  as  he  did  not  feel  his 
responsibility  as  keenly  as  he  might  have  done.  Con- 
tracts had  to  be  straightened  out  and  collections  made. 
Many  a  day  John's  typewriter  clicked  as  he  cared  for 
these  affairs.  This  work  was  done  in  addition  to  the 
activities  catalogued  in  the  last  chapter.  The  summer 
after  graduating  from  Wake  Forest  with  a  B.  S.  degree 
John  spent  in  Georgia  again,  drilling  wells.  A  medical 
education  is  expensive  and  money  had  to  be  secured 
to  further  prosecute  those  studies.  Writing  to  a  col- 
lege mate  about  the  middle  of  the  summer,  he  says : 

This  has  been  a  busy  summer  with  me  and  I  have  had 
very  little  time  to  myself.  I  had  a  good  time  yesterday  in 
this  little  place  by  myself  and  with  Him.  It  was  the  best 
Sunday  I  have  spent  in  some  time.  What  have  you  been 
doing  for  yourself?  What  have  you  been  doing  for  others? 
Did  you  know  that  there  were  only  two  fellows  at  the  sum- 
Si 


52  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

mer  conference  from  Wake  Forest  ?  I  am  sorry  that  it  was 
this  way.  You  have  decided  to  go  back  to  Wake  Forest  next 
fall,  have  you  not?  Well,  you  all  must  do  things  there  in 
a  spiritual  way.  I  have  often  thought  of  what  you  all  will 
do  next  year  and  have  built  air  castles  for  you.  Do  not 
let  them  fail,  but  build  to  them.  I  would  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you  as  to  your  plans  and  what  you  have  done.  My 
work  this  summer  has  not  been  what  I  would  like  it  to 
have  been  as  I  have  been  occupied  more  with  material  than 
with  spiritual  matters.  But  I  have  made  a  number  of  talks 
and  led  Sunday  School  classes.  I  have  not  fully  decided 
where  I  will  go  next  year  as  I  want  to  get  to  a  place  where 
the  spiritual  atmosphere  is  as  good  as  it  can  be  in  a  medical 
school — even  at  that  it  will  be  low. 

"What  have  you  been  doing  for  others?'*  is  his 
question  to  his  friend.  It  was  always  on  his  heart. 
The  thought  of  a  poem  that  he  enclosed  in  one  of  his 
letters  from  Georgia,  he  came  as  near  embodying  in 
his  life  as  any  man  that  many  of  us  have  ever  known. 

"Lord,  help  me  to  live  from  day  to  day 
In  such  a  self- forgetful  way 
That  even  when  I  kneel  to  pray. 
My  prayer  shall  be  for — Others. 

Help  me  in  all  the  work  I  do 

To  ever  be  sincere  and  true. 
And  know  that  all  I'd  do  for  you, 

Must  needs  be  done  for — ^Others. 

Let  'self  be  crucified  and  slain, 
And  buried  deep ;  and  all  in  vain 

May  efforts  be  to  rise  again. 
Unless  to  live  for — Others. 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN  KENTUCKY  53 

And  when  my  work  on  earth  is  done, 
And  my  new  work  in  Heaven's  begun, 

May  I  forget  the  crown  I've  won, 
While  thinking  still  of — Others. 

Others,  Lord,  yes,  others; 

Let  this  my  motto  be: 
Help  me  to  live  for  others. 

That  I  may  live  like  Thee." 

For  the  reasons  mentioned  above,  John  decided  be- 
fore the  summer  was  over  to  go  to  the  University  of 
Louisville  for  his  last  two  years  of  medicine,  as  it 
would  be  possible  to  have  association  with  the  students 
of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  where 
several  of  his  friends  were  studying.  For  a  time,  when 
he  first  came  to  Louisville,  he  lived  in  the  Seminary 
dormitory,  a  procedure  quite  out  of  the  ordinary  for 
a  medical  student.  He  attended  the  chapel  services  and 
special  lectures  as  often  as  possible,  though  he  did  not 
have  much  time  with  a  schedule  that  kept  him  at  the 
Medical  School  from  8  A.  M.  to  6  P.  M.  every  day, 
with  an  hour  off  for  lunch  and  Saturday  afternoon 
free. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  was  doing  those  kindly 
services  for  men  in  the  Seminary  which  were  typical 
of  his  life  everywhere;  waiting  on  table  to  substitute 
for  one  who  was  absent,  nursing  students  who  were 
ill,  setting  a  shoulder  dislocated  in  the  gymnasium,  and 
so  on.  One  of  his  friends  was  taken  sick  with  a  bad 
case  of  tonsilitis  and  he  came  over  from  the  medical 
school  between  classes — it  was  four  or  five  blocks  away 


54  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

— to  give  him  medicine  and  nourishment.  He  once 
told  one  of  the  Seminary  men  that  he  had  counted  his 
steps  from  the  Medical  School  to  the  Seminary  so 
that  he  would  know  the  shortest  route  to  come  when 
he  wanted  to  save  seconds.     He  wrote  in  a  letter: 

One  night  I  was  called  three  times  and  one  time  I  had 
to  go  to  a  drug  store  four  blocks  away  at  three  A.  M.  for 
some  medicine.  There  is  nothing  like  getting  used  to  being 
awakened  any  time  in  the  night. 

This  service  was  all,  of  course,  gratuitous,  and  this 
was  only  his  third  year  in  medicine.  His  letters  home 
at  this  time  are  full  of  advice  for  sick  friends  and 
neighbors  in  Woodruff.  He  was  interested  in  all  his 
home  community  ills. 

On  Sunday  afternoons  John  went  with  two  or  three 
of  the  Seminary  students  for  a  twenty-minute  street 
car  ride  and  a  two-mile  walk  from  the  end  of  the  car 
line,  to  teach  in  a  Sunday  School  which  was  held  in  a 
public  school  house  in  a  religiously  neglected  com- 
munity. Most  of  the  attendants  were  young  people 
and  only  a  few  of  them  were  Christians.  They  had  a 
missionary  rally  in  the  spring  of  that  year  with  one 
hundred  and  one  present  and  a  collection  for  missions 

of  $5275. 

John  Anderson  could  not  be  satisfied  to  nourish 
himself  on  the  spiritual  food  the  Seminary  provided 
and  disregard  the  needs  of  the  Medical  School  he  was 
attending.  The  moral  conditions  there  distressed  his 
soul.  There  was  no  religious  organization  in  the 
school  and  beyond  the  seven  or  eight  men  who  at- 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN  KENTUCKY  55 

tended  a  Bible  class  in  the  city  Y.  M.  C.  A.  there  were 
none  who  seemed  concerned  about  Christian  living. 
There  was  drinking  and  gambling  and  immorality  un- 
abashed. The  year  before,  the  State  Student  Secre- 
tary had  conferred  with  the  most  interested  students 
about  the  organization  of  a  Student  Y.  M.  C.  A.  but 
they  had  declared  it  to  be  impossible.  One  would 
hardly  call  it  a  promising  situation.  But  John  was 
"just  fool  enough  to  think  that  he  could  do  the  im- 
possible," and  he  did  it.  He  began  by  finding  out  the 
few  men  who  attended  church  services,  cultivating 
them,  talking  to  them  about  their  obligation  to  do 
something  to  better  the  moral  tone  of  the  school,  draw- 
ing them  together  into  an  inner  circle,  that  they  might 
stand  by  him  in  the  attempted  transformation.  It  was 
not  until  May  that  he  had  worked  up  enough  interest 
to  feel  justified  in  calling  a  meeting  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Association.  It  was  organized  with  twenty- 
seven  members  and  the  number  had  doubled  in  two 
weeks.  They  were  strong  enough  by  the  end  of  the 
session  to  send  five  delegates  to  the  Student  Christian 
Conference  at  Blue  Ridge,  North  Carolina.  Before  the 
organization  meeting,  however,  some  religious  meet- 
ings had  been  held  in  the  school.  A  letter  dated  March 
22,  1913,  reads: 

The  first  meeting  of  any  religious  nature  for  a  number 
of  years  was  held  at  the  Medical  School  after  the  seven 
to  eight  class  on  Wednesday  night.  We  did  not  do  much 
advertising,  but  gave  much  time  to  prayer  and  personal 
work  and  instead  of  twenty  or  thirty  being  there  as  we 
expected,  we  had  sixty  odd.     These  fellows  gave  attention 


56  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

to  the  speaker  better  than  they  have  to  any  surgeon  or" 
practitioner  that  we  have  had  this  year.  I  believe  that  God 
will  use  some  of  us  to  bring  about  a  change  in  that  place. 
We  have  before  us  some  plans  and  are  also  doing  some 
definite  praying.  Mk.  11:32 — Jesus  said:  "Have  faith  in 
God,"  and  it  does  seem  that  we  should  have  faith  when  He 
has  done  so  much  for  us  and  we  have  been  able  to  see  what 
He  has  done  for  so  many  people. 

In  this  same  letter  he  copies  from  his  note  book 
some  sentences  that  he  had  put  down  while  attending 
the  Kentucky  State  Y.  M.  C.  A.  training  conference  at 
Lexington. 

Are  our  lives  surrounded  by  so  many  things  that  we 
cannot  see  God? 

Every  Christian  student  should  set  standards,  set  an 
example  of  practical  faith,  set  his  college  atmosphere  right, 
set  great  ideals  for  life  service. 

To  conquer  the  world  for  Christ,  we  must  first  conquer 
self. 

Inactive  lives  are  like  a  pool  with  no  outlet  which  be- 
comes stagnant. 

Pray  without  ceasing. 

Two  necessities  for  the  successful  missionary.  (Why  not 
any  Christian?— John  adds.)  Simple  Obedience  and  Faith- 
ful Tenacity. 

An  associate  of  those  days  has  written  of  him : 

John  was  not  unusual  as  a  personal  worker  in  winning 
definite  decisions,  but  he  was  constantly  seeking  contacts 
with  men  who  were  morally  weak,  and  his  life  with  his 
radiantly  clean  mind  and  unselfish  spirit  exercised  a  profound 
influence.  During  the  time  that  I  knew  him  I  never  heard 
him  utter  a  word  that  would  indicate  the  harboring  of  any 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN  KENTUCKY  57 

unclean  thing  in  his  mind.  He  gave  me  the  impression  of 
being  transparently  pure.  His  face  was  as  open  and  frank 
as  a  child's  and  there  was  a  kind  of  radiance  in  his  smile 
that  was  a  revelation  of  the  Christ  spirit  within.  I  have 
seen  him  often  when  it  could  be  truly  said — "His  face  shone." 

There  was  a  single  Chinese  student  in  the  Medical 
School.  He  was  a  retiring  kind  of  a  chap  and  for  the 
most  part  was  ignored  by  his  fellow  students.  Thou- 
sands of  miles  away  from  his  ancestral  home,  no  one 
knew  how  lonely  he  was,  for  a  true  Chinese  never  lets 
his  feelings  be  known.  He  seemed  to  have  plenty  of 
money,  but  he  was  without  friends.  Should  a  man 
who  was  proposing  to  be  a  missionary  in  China  neglect 
an  opportunity  to  serve  a  Chinese  who  was  at  his 
door? 

Early  m  the  year  John  wrote : 

We  have  a  Chinese  here  in  the  Sophomore  Class  who  is  an 
extra  smart  fellow.  He  is  not  a  Christian,  but  we  are  trying 
to  bring  him  across.  He  is  a  nobleman's  son  and  it  will 
mean  much  to  his  people  for  him  to  go  back  as  a  Christian. 
He  has  only  been  in  this  country  a  little  over  two  years. 
He  has  no  Christian  home  to  be  in  and  has  to  live  in  a  board- 
ing house.  At  the  Medical  School  the  atmosphere  is  not 
what  it  should  be  anyway.  He  knows  some  of  the  mission- 
aries in  China.  If  I  could  win  him  to  Christ,  he  would  be 
worth  two  or  more  of  my  lives  in  Christianizing  China. 

John  simply  set  himself  to  be  a  friend  to  this  young 
Chinese,  whose  name  was  Kuei  Chow.  He  invited 
him  to  dinner,  visited  him  in  his  room,  took  him  out 
to  lectures  and  to  church  and  Sunday  School.  Chow, 
though  nominally  a  Confucianist,  was  practically  with- 
out religion  of  any  kind  when  John  began  associating 


58  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

with  him.  But  he  could  not  resist  the  genial  warmth 
of  the  friendship  which  was  offered  to  him.  John  had 
him  out  to  his  country  Sunday  School  to  give  a  talk 
on   China.    In  the  course  of  that  talk  Chow  said : 

*'I  am  not  a  Christian,  but  I  believe  that  Christianity 
is  the  true  religion,  and  I  want  to  know  more  about  it." 

John  used  to  get  his  Seminary  friends  together, 
going  from  room  to  room,  to  pray  for  Chow's  con- 
version. 

If  Kuei  Chow  could  be  persuaded  to  go  to  Blue 
Ridge,  North  Carolina,  and  have  touch  with  the  fine 
type  of  Christian  living  found  there,  and  be  thrown 
with  several  hundred  aggressive  Christian  students  in 
Bible  study  and  recreation  for  the  ten  days  of  the 
Student  Y.  M.  C.  A.  conference,  surely  he  would  give 
his  heart  to  Christ.  So  thought  John  and  so  he 
planned.  Before  the  year  was  up  he  had  Chow's 
promise  to  attend,  and  in  order  to  make  sure  that  he 
would  not  change  his  mind  between  the  close  of  school 
and  the  time  of  the  conference,  he  invited  him  to  go 
home  with  him  to  South  Carolina  for  a  two  weeks' 
visit.  There  Chow  had  the  new  experience  of  being 
in  a  true  Christian  home.  John  and  Chow  talked  often 
of  the  meaning  of  the  Christian  life,  but  there  was  no 
attempt  to  force  any  decision.  Then  together  they 
went  up  into  the  mountains  for  the  student  conference. 
John  saw  to  it  that  Chow  was  enrolled  in  a  class  in 
Christian  fundamentals.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  week 
Chow  said  that  he  had  to  leave  for  New  York  to  meet 
some  Chinese  friends  with  whom  he  had  an  engage- 
ment.   John  felt  that  it  would  be  fatal  to  all  that  he 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  IN  KENTUCKY  59 

had  planned  if  Chow  were  not  to  stay  through  the 
whole  time.  He  brought  him  to  one  of  the  Student 
Secretaries  and  together  they  talked  it  over.  Chow 
finally  agreed  to  send  a  telegram  canceling  the  engage- 
ment, and  two  days  later  this  young  Chinese  student 
voluntarily  came  to  John  to  declare  his  purpose  to  be- 
come a  Christian  and  ask  to  be  baptized. 

Kuei  Chow  wanted  to  confess  Christ  then  and  there 
before  the  conference  and  so  it  was  arranged  to  hold 
the  baptismal  service  late  Saturday  afternoon.  There 
was  no  baptistry,  but  John  put  on  some  old  clothes 
and  secured  a  wheelbarrow  and  with  two  or  three 
others  worked  several  hours  that  afternoon  damming 
up  the  stream  which  runs  by  R.  E.  Lee  Hall.  It  was 
one  of  the  happiest  services  he  ever  rendered  and  he 
wrought  with  a  heart  on  fire.  What  an  impressive 
scene  that  baptism  was !  In  the  cool  of  the  afternoon 
the  crowd  gathered  on  the  slopes  about  the  pool.  Dr. 
A.  T.  Robertson,  the  great  Greek  scholar,  read  the 
Scripture.  Mr.  W.  B.  Pettus  of  China  asked  the  can- 
didate in  Chinese  whether  he  would  hold  true  to  his 
confession  if  on  returning  to  China  he  were  to  be  sub- 
jected to  persecution.  And  Dr.  E.  M.  Poteat,  then 
President  of  Furman  University,  led  Kuei  Chow  into 
the  pool  to  bury  him  solemnly  in  the  watery  grave 
from  whence  he  rose  dedicated  to  the  new  life  in 
Christ. 

On  the  train  going  down  from  that  conference,  John 
Anderson  turned  to  a  friend  and  said : 

I  went  to  that  conference  with  a  three-fold  purpose:  to 
see   Kuei   Chow  become   a   Christian;   to  get   a  delegation 


60  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

from  the  Medical  School  there  and  get  them  lined  up  with 
plans  for  the  next  year;  and  to  gain  power  and  inspiration 
for  my  own  life  and  tasks.  All  three  things  have  been  ac- 
complished. 

Turn  back  a  few  years  in  this  story  and  Kuei  Chow, 
a  grandson  of  one  of  the  great  Viceroys  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  is  a  boy  in  China.  His  family  is  one  of  the 
wealthiest  in  the  city  of  Yang  Chow.  The  doctors  in 
the  mission  hospital  have  served  them  in  times  of 
sickness  and  are  on  very  friendly  terms  with  them, 
though  no  one  in  the  family  is  interested  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Kuei  Chow  conceives  the  idea  of  going 
to  America  to  study  medicine,  perhaps  because  of  what 
he  has  seen  those  Christian  physicians  do.  When 
finally  he  sails  for  the  West,  the  prayers  of  Dr.  R.  V. 
Taylor  go  with  him,  asking  the  Father  God  to  bring 
him  into  such  relationships  in  that  new  atmosphere  in 
America  as  will  help  him  to  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  Gospel  and  bring  him  into  discipleship  to  Christ. 
In  the  providence  of  God,  unknown  to  Dr.  Taylor, 
Kuei  Chow  and  John  Anderson  came  to  the  same  medi- 
cal school  and  John  Anderson,  the  friend  of  Dr.  Tay- 
lor and  later  his  associate,  was  the  answer  to  his  pray- 
ers for  this  Chinese  boy. 

The  year  after  John  Anderson  graduated  at  Louis- 
ville, Dr.  R.  V.  Taylor's  older  brother,  traveling  while 
on  furlough  for  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement, 
visited  the  University  of  Louisville  and  saw  Kuei 
Chow.  He  asked  him  why  he  had  become  a  Christian. 
Chow's  reply  was : 

*T  saw  that  it  worked  in  the  life  of  John  Anderson." 


CHAPTER  VI:  THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY) 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   LAST   YEAR   IN   THE  UNIVERSITY 

It  is  sometimes  complained  that  college  men  and 
women  who  are  more  or  less  active  in  their  Student 
Christian  Associations,  when  they  return  to  their  home 
communities  do  not  enter  heartily  into  the  religious 
work  of  their  home  churches  and  fail  to  share  in  serv- 
ices for  which  their  training  has  peculiarly  fitted  them. 
Such  a  criticism  would  hardly  apply  to  the  one  of  whom 
we  have  been  writing.     Note  this  letter : 

You  do  not  know  what  a  busy  man  I  have  been  this  sum- 
mer. I  had  a  Chinese  with  me  the  first  of  the  summer  for 
something  over  two  weeks.  Then  I  went  to  the  conference 
where  I  saw  him  confess  Christ.  I  came  home  and  tried  to 
install  some  mission  study  classes  in  the  church.  I  got 
some  sixty  odd  to  do  this,  but  some  dropped  out.  A  mission 
Sunday  School  was  started  at  one  of  the  mills  the  Sunday 
before  I  came  home  and  since  I  arrived  I  have  been  acting 
as  Superintendent  and  teaching  a  class  of  girls.  In  my 
home  church  I  have  been  teaching  the  Philathea  Class 
(Young  Women)  all  summer.  I  have  had  to  make  a  num- 
ber of  talks,  etc.  I  have  been  practicing  with  a  physician 
and  working  in  a  drug  store  at  intervals,  besides  many  other 
things.    This  has  been  a  glorious  summer  with  me. 

This  mill  Sunday  School  later  developed  into  a 
church  which  John's  father  has  served  as  pastor  ever 

63 


64f  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

since.  Of  the  way  John  prayed  for  his  father  and 
encouraged  him  in  that  responsibiUty,  when  there  were 
so  many  difficuhies  and  discouragements,  his  father 
never  ceases  the  telHng. 

John  returned  to  Louisville  at  the  beginning  of  his 
Senior  year  a  week  or  so^  before  school  opened  in 
order  to  set  up  the  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  He  had 
written  to  several  of  the  men  to  meet  him  and  help  in 
arranging  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  reception  for  the  incoming 
students  in  the  City  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  where  John 
said  there  would  be  less  danger  from  hazing  for  the 
Freshmen  than  in  the  Medical  School  buildings.  The 
planning  included  medical  Bible  classes  in  two  of  the 
city  churches  as  well  as  the  week  night  medical  Bible 
class  in  the  City  Y.  M.  C.  A.  This  latter  class  was 
boosted  from  an  attendance  of  a  half  dozen  men  to 
forty  or  fifty  and  at  times  to  an  even  hundred. 

The  deepest  concern  of  his  heart  lay  in  Foreign  Mis- 
sions. Nothing  seemed  more  important  to  him  than 
the  bringing  of  light  and  healing  to  those  nations  which 
had  been  denied  them  so  long.  With  one  doctor  to 
every  two  or  three  hundred  population  in  America 
contrasted  with  one  doctor  for  approximately  two 
million  population  in  the  non-Christian  world,  he  was 
sure  that  the  people  across  the  seas  had  not  had  their 
share  in  the  ministry  of  Christ.  As  in  South  and 
North  Carolina,  so  in  Kentucky  John  took  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  work  of  the  State  Volunteer  Union. 
In  all  three  states,  he  acted  as  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
of  these  organizations.  One  who  was  associated  with 
him  in  the  Kentucky  Union  writes : 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY      65 

Except  for  John  Anderson,  the  State  Union  of  Volun- 
teers for  Foreign  Missions  in  Kentucky  would  never  have 
been  more  than  a  mediocre  affair.  He  came  into  it  after 
the  first  year  and  was  elected  Secretary-Treasurer.  The 
service  that  he  rendered  during  the  next  two  years  in  a  purely 
voluntary  way  was  astonishing.  How  he  found  time  for  all 
he  was  doing  at  this  time  I  still  do  not  know.  He  was 
continually  writing  to  the  Volunteer  Bands  of  the  state, 
often  two  or  three  letters  before  he  could  get  a  response. 
He  got  out  the  monthly  news  letter,  paying  the  printer's 
bills  himself  because  there  was  no  money  in  the  treasury 
and  he  felt  it  would  hurt  the  Union  to  press  members  for 
dues  just  then.  I  could  never  be  quite  sure  that  he  was 
ever  fully  reimbursed  for  these  amounts.  At  special  times 
he  visited  Bands  in  person  at  his  own  expense,  to  stir  them 
into  action.  And  this  he  did  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
not  a  good  letter  writer  nor  a  good  speaker.  His  English 
was  often  ungrammatical,  but  he  kept  writing  and  kept 
speaking  and  the  results  came.  During  the  five  months 
following  the  Kansas  City  Convention  there  were  fifty-one 
Kentucky  students  who  became  Student  Volunteers,  an 
astonishiHg  number  out  of  some  three  thousand  students  of 
college  rank  in  the  state.  While  only  a  few  of  these  were 
under  John's  direct  influence,  much  of  the  credit  for  the 
total  is  due  to  his  work  through  the  State  Volunteer  Union 
and  in  securing  large  attendance  at  the  Kansas  City  Con- 
vention. His  mind  was  continually  busy  on  the  problems 
of  the  Union.  He  was  forever  thinking  up  some  new  way 
to  wake  up  local  Volunteers.  No  statement  that  he  had 
done  all  that  could  be  done  ever  satisfied  him  if  the  end 
had  not  been  accomplished.  How  disgusted  he  used  to  be- 
come with  the  failure  of  students  to  make  good  their  prom- 
ises. If  he  accepted  a  responsibility  himself,  he  carried  it 
out.  I  never  knew  him  to  come  back  from  a  task  with  an 
excuse  for  not  doing  it.    He  didn't  quit. 


5  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

Several  of  John's  own  letters  speak  of  this  work: 
I  would  be  glad  to  get  a  list  of  the  Volunteers  at , 


also  what  class  they  are  in.  We  should  do  all  we  can  to 
get  them  to  continue  their  preparation  and  ever  keep  their 
purpose  before  them.  You  remember  the  statement  that  Dr. 
L — —  made,  that  only  twenty-two  per  cent  of  those  who  ap- 
plied to  the  boards  last  year  were  rejected.  But  there  are  so 
many  who  do  not  apply  and  I  believe  that  there  are  not  over 
twenty  or  twenty-five  per  cent  of  those  who  sign  the 
declaration  card  who  ever  reach  the  field.  So  I  feel  that 
the  work  of  the  Volunteer  Bands  and  Unions  is  to  instill 
into  the  lives  of  the  present  Student  Volunteers  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  they  have  before  them,  that  they  can- 
not afford  to  dally  around,  but  must  press  onward  with  all 
the  vigor  and  energy  of  their  lives  with  the  help  of  God. 

In  another  letter  he  says: 

I  have  not  heard  anything  from  any  of  the  other  bands. 

I  wrote  the  leader  of  the Band,  but  I  have  not  heard 

from  him.     I  have  written  two  letters  to  B ,  but  have 

not  heard  a  word.  This  does  not  feaze  me,  for  I  believe  in 
the  work.  It  makes  me  the  more  anxious  to  do  it  for  I  see 
more  clearly  the  need  of  it. 

As  to  his  own  school  he  writes : 

I  am  trying  to  get  a  Band  here  at  the  Medical  School. 
One  man  and  his  wife  have  signed  the  card  since  I  came 
here  and  there  are  two  others  who  are  willing  to  go.  An- 
other fellow  whom  I  go  with  more  than  any  of  the  others 
who  live  here  should  go  if  I  am  capable  of  judging. 

Before  he  left  Louisville  there  were  eight  or  ten  in 
the  school  who  had  declared  their  purposes,  God  per- 
mitting, to  be  foreign  missionaries,  and  since  that  time 
several  have  already  gone  to  their  fields  of  service. 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY      67 

The  couple  mentioned  above  are  in  a  hospital  in  Can- 
ton. 

The  quadrennial  convention  of  the  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement  was  scheduled  for  the  last  of  December 
of  this  year.  John  had  been  to  the  previous  convention 
at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  knew  the  tremendous  spiritual 
power  of  the  meetings.  Early  securing  for  himself 
the  assurance  that  he  might  go  to  this  191 3-14  con- 
vention, he  began  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  this 
opportunity  in  his  work  with  the  Volunteer  Union. 
He  wrote  to  a  student  in  Wake  Forest : 

Say,  old  boy,  I  think  that  you  have  one  of  the  greatest 
opportunities  before  you  that  you  have  ever  had  and  that 
is  in  getting  a  large  delegation  to  Kansas  City.  Wake  Forest 
College  M^as  not  represented  at  the  last  convention  at  Roches- 
ter. This  is  to  be  the  greatest  of  any  that  has  ever  been  held, 
in  numbers  and  in  quality.  I  think  that  you  v^ould  not  find  it 
a  loss  of  time  to  see  that  every  college  is  represented  by 
one  or  tv^o  delegates  at  least.  We  are  only  entitled  to  three 
from  the  Medical  School  and  I  know  of  five  nov^  v^^ho  M^ill 
go  if  they  can.  Pray  about  this  matter  and  form  groups  of 
men  to  meet  from  time  to  time  to  pray  about  this  conven- 
tion. Read  some  of  the  articles  in  the  report  of  the  Roches- 
ter Convention  and  you  wrill  v^ork  up  some  real  enthusiasm. 

Then  follow  details  of  railroad  schedules  worked  out 
to  show  the  best  route  for  the  trip.  These  schedules 
were  prepared  with  great  detail  and  similar  letters  were 
mailed  to  many  friends  in  several  states.  The  railroad 
agent  in  Louisville  granted  him  free  passage  to  the 
convention  for  the  help  he  gave  in  working  up  some 
special  trains.    L.  M.  Terrill,  the  President  of  the  Ken- 


68  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

tucky  Union  at  that  time,  has  told  the  story  of  this 
special  service: 

Early  in  19 13  John  was  keenly  awake  to  the  possibilities 
of  the  Student  Volunteer  Convention  at  Kansas  City  and 
began  to  stir  some  of  us  who  had  small  realization  then  of 
its  significance.  He  began  getting  under  the  skin  of  the 
Kentucky  Volunteer  Bands  and  as  the  time  drew  nearer  be- 
gan writing  to  friends  all  over  the  South,  the  two  Carolinas, 
Georgia,  Alabama  and  Virginia,  trying  to  stir  them  to  action 
in  sending  large  delegations.  When  he  first  broached  to  me 
the  plan  of  a  special  train  it  seemed  too  ambitious.  Then  he 
expanded  it  still  further.  Why  not  special  trains  to  take 
all  the  students  from  the  Southern  States?  He  worked  out 
places,  junction  points  and  schedules  with  minute  detail.  He 
was  a  master  at  this  sort  of  thing,  anticipating  every  con- 
tingency. As  it  turned  out  later,  it  was  best  for  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Tennessee  students  to  go  through  Nashville,  but 
the  special  train  plan  worked.  Special  cars  from  the  other 
states  were  assembled  in  Louisville  into  a  special  train  of 
two  sections.  This  left  most  of  the  students  a  half  day  or 
more  in  Louisville.  This  too  John  had  anticipated.  There 
was  a  luncheon  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  then  a  choice  of 
six  personally  conducted  expeditions  through  the  city,  care- 
fully worked  out  in  advance  and  gone  over  so  that  the  time 
involved  was  definitely  known — then  a  big  dinner  at  night 
with  talks  that  prepared  heart  and  mind  for  the  great  con- 
vention. I  doubt  if  there  were  any  other  students  so  ex- 
pectant and  prepared  as  they  came  to  Kansas  City. 

A  few  days  before  the  convention,  John  and  I  got  to- 
gether to  work  out  suggestions  for  the  dele'gates — the  things 
that  would  help  make  the  convention  mean  most,  together 
with  final  transportation  instructions.  One  of  the  instruc- 
tions was  "Go  to  bed  early.  Get  as  much  rest  as  possible." 
When  we  got  through  he  pointed  to  this  item,  then  looked 
at  his  watch  and  laughed.     It  was  3  :oo  A.  M.     He  never 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY     69 

thought  of  himself  when  there  was  a  chance  to  serve.  On  the 
return  trip  from  Kansas  City  we  had  another  all-night  vigil 
together.  The  party  was  dead  tired  and  it  was  midnight  or 
later  before  we  got  on  the  special  train.  The  single  con- 
ductor had  an  almost  impossible  job  of  getting  the  tickets 
of  that  packed  train,  without  keeping  the  folks  up  all  night. 
So  John  started  in  and  I  followed  taking  tickets.  After 
that  they  had  to  be  checked  up  which  took  longer  still  and 
when  the  job  was  finished  it  was  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
John  was  up  in  a  little  more  than  an  hour  wiring  to  St. 
Louis  for  breakfast  and  boxes  of  lunch.  Later  in  the  day 
when  every  one  was  all  in,  he  brightened  things  up  again  by 
going  through  the  train  with  a  box  of  big  red  apples,  one 
for  each.    He  had  bought  them  himself. 

The  only  unpleasant  experience  of  the  trip  was  on  the 
way  out.  A  Chinese  student,  not  a  Christian,  made  endless 
complaint  of  his  arrangements.  John  changed  his  berth 
twice,  but  still  he  was  not  satisfied.  Kuei  Chow,  who  was 
on  the  trip,  even  offered  to  give  up  his  berth  to  him.  John 
remarked  afterward  that  it  was  a  fine  testimony  to  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  the  Christian  life  that  of  all  that  trainload — 
crowded  and  inconvenienced  every  one — the  only  one  to 
complain  or  criticize  was  the  one  man  in  the  crowd  who 
was  not  a  Christian. 

All  these  various  and  extensive  services  were  en- 
tirely a  labor  of  love.  John  was  not  engaged  by  any 
agency  or  individual  to  do  these  things.  He  simply 
saw  a  need  and  went  forward  to  meet  it.  There  was 
nothing  officious  in  any  of  it  either.  Many  of  those 
who  benefited  by  the  well-planned  arrangements  for 
their  comfort  and  enjoyment  probably  never  knew  to 
whom  they  were  indebted.  He  was  exceedingly 
anxious  to  have  one  of  his  sisters  go  to  the  conven- 
tion and  wrote  home  some  time  before  saying: 


70  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

I  had  rather  for  her  to  go  to  Kansas  City  than  to  college 
this  spring.  I  will  borrow  the  money  and  pay  her  way  if 
that  will  be  satisfactory. 

And  shortly  before  the  trip  itself  he  wrote : 

This  Christmas  will  be  different  in  many  respects  to  those 
that  I  have  spent  in  the  past  and  I  am  trusting  that  it  will 
be  a  time  in  which  I  will  be  able  to  deepen  my  spiritual  life 
in  a  way  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  before.  Most  of 
next  week  will  be  spent  in  my  room  trying  to  prepare  myself 
in  every  way  to  get  the  most  out  of  the  Kansas  City  Conven- 
tion. I  feel  that  it  is  a  great  opportunity  that  has  been 
given  me  to  attend  this  convention  and  I  feel  that  this  will 
be  a  greater  Christmas  present  than  any  one  could  give  me. 
I  know  of  a  number  of  students  who  want  to  go  and  are  not 
able,  and  still  as  large  a  number  who  are  able  to  go,  but 
who  could  not  get  into  the  meetings  if  they  were  to  go.  God 
has  given  me  this  great  privilege  and  has  given  me  so  many 
opportunities  of  a  similar  nature  and  I  have  not  made  use 
of  them  as  I  should.  I  surely  want  to  make  use  of  the  one 
that  is  ahead  of  me. 

One  other  incident  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
the  Kentucky  Union  should  be  recorded.  A  young 
woman,  Miss  Carrie  Reaves,  a  graduate  of  Winthrop 
College  in  South  Carolina,  who  had  been  active  in  the 
South  Carolina  Volunteer  Union,  had  come  to  the 
mountains  of  Kentucky  to  teach  in  a  small  mission 
school.  It  was  her  thought  that  such  service  would 
best  prepare  her  for  work  as  a  missionary  in  China. 
With  her  were  two  other  girls.  They  did  their  own 
housekeeping,  bringing  water  from  the  spring  and 
sometimes  cutting  their  own  firewood.  The  salary 
from  which  all  expenses  had  to  be  paid  was  $20.00  a 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY     71 

month.  John  heard  that  she  had  come  to  Kentucky, 
but  he  did  not  know  just  where  she  was  located.  He 
wrote  back  to  South  CaroHna  for  her  address  and  then 
invited  her  to  come  to  one  of  the  Kentucky  Union 
conferences.  At  that  meeting  she  was  elected  Vice- 
President  of  the  Union.  It  was  not  long  thereafter 
that  she  was  taken  ill  with  typhoid  fever.  Isolated  in 
the  mountains  there  was  no  chance  for  proper  medical 
attention.  Her  sickness  became  the  immediate  con- 
cern of  John  Anderson.  He  was  far  removed  from 
the  place,  but  he  sent  letters  and  telegrams  and  finally 
she  was  brought  to  a  hospital  in  Lexington.  He  asked 
an  interne  there  who  was  a  friend  of  his  to  give  him 
daily  reports  on  her  condition  by  telephone,  and  he 
drew  together  several  of  his  friends  who  also  knew 
her  to  intercede  for  her  recovery.  Somehow  he  felt 
that  it  could  not  be  God's  will  that  such  a  consecrated 
and  useful  one  should  be  taken  and  he  prayed  with  a 
faith  that  he  felt  could  not  be  denied. 

I  have  been  spending  much  time  in  prayer  for  her he 

wrote and  I  believe  that  God  will  restore  her  to  health. 

Have  any  of  you  all  ever  had  a  real  answer  to  prayer? 
Have  you  prayed  for  a  number  of  days  for  something  and 
it  has  come  to  pass  just  as  you  prayed  or  God  gave  you  more 
than  you  expected?  Since  I  have  been  here  this  fall  I  have 
had  a  number  of  my  prayers  answered  in  just  that  way.  In 
this  past  week  I  have  had  three  direct  answers  to  prayer.  I 
have  more  faith  in  God  to-day  than  I  ever  had  before.  It 
has  been  my  plan  for  some  time  to  write  down  what  I 
want  to  pray  for.  I  put  the  date  down  with  this  also.  If 
God  answers  this  I  mark  it  out.  If  He  does  not  answer  this 
I  put  down  beside  it  "lack  of  faith/'  and  pray  that  God  will 


72  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

give  me  more  faith  and  teach  me  how  to  pray.  I  do  not  put 
down  everything  that  I  desire,  but  I  give  each  matter  a 
prayerful  consideration  before  I  put  it  down. 

But  Miss  Reaves  did  not  recover  and  when  word 
came  that  she  was  gone,  John  had  some  black  days  of 
doubt  and  questioning.  His  mind  seemed  to  beat  itself 
up  against  a  blank  wall.  Why  had  not  God  given  her 
back  to  her  labors  ?  When  the  world  so  much  needed 
lives  like  hers,  why  had  He  let  her  die?  Had  not  he 
been  faithful  and  believing  in  his  prayers  for  her? 
But  it  was  not  long  before  his  old  faith  and  simple 
trust  returned,  perhaps  a  bit  chastened,  but  neverthe- 
less just  as  real  as  ever  in  the  belief  that  God  does 
work  in  this  world  through  prayer.  And  his  under- 
standing of  prayer  grew  as  he  exercised  himself 
therein.  One  of  his  favorite  books  which  he  kept 
constantly  beside  him  and  gave  to  many  of  his  friends 
was  Fosdick's  "The  Meaning  of  Prayer." 

While  at  the  Kansas  City  Convention,  John 
was  able  to  schedule  with  Mr.  C.  D.  Hurrey  of  the 
Student  Department  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  an  engage- 
ment to  come  to  the  Medical  School  for  some  evan- 
gelistic meetings.  Mr.  Hurrey  had  been  approached 
some  time  before,  but  had  replied  that  his  schedule 
was  already  full  and  that  he  could  not  possibly  come. 
John  had  been  bombarding  him  with  letters  and  finally 
brought  all  his  arguments  to  bear  on  him  personally 
at  Kansas  City.  He  was  convinced  that  Mr.  Hurrey 
was  the  man  to  do  the  work  and  he  would  not  take 
a  refusal  for  his  answer.  Mr.  Hurrey  could  not  re- 
sist this  kind  of  importunity  and  finally  agreed  to  re- 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY     73 

arrange  his  dates  and  come.  So  far  as  known  there 
had  never  been  an  evangelistic  campaign  in  that  school. 
When  Mr.  Hurrey  came  four  meetings  were  held. 
They  had  been  thoroughly  advertised  and  there  was  a 
fine  attendance.  John  brought  Mr.  Hurrey  about  a 
dozen  of  the  * 'rough-necks"  of  the  school  for  inter- 
views, men  who  were  openly  dissipated,  but  in  whom 
he  had  discovered  qualities  that  led  him  to  believe  in 
them.  Several  of  these  made  decisions  for  the  Chris- 
tian life  and  cleaned  up.  One  was  a  brother  of  a 
prominent  religious  worker  in  another  city.  In  the 
campaign  there  was  no  more  interested  worker  than 
the  young  Chinese  who  had  declared  himself  a  Chris- 
tian the  summer  before. 

Gambling,  drinking  and  dishonesty  in  examinations 
were  the  three  prominent  evils  in  the  student  body  that 
John  felt  had  no  business  there.  He  was  no  ''holier- 
than-thou"  reformer.  He  simply  hated  the  things 
that  spoiled  the  souls  of  men  he  loved.  And  even  if 
he  had  to  stand  against  such  things  alone,  he  did  it, 
for  he  had  no  "yellow  streak."  One  night  in  the 
amphitheater  he  had  a  meeting  which  was  largely  at- 
tended in  which  betting  was  discussed  by  a  prominent 
speaker.  As  to  drinking,  he  rallied  around  him  some 
of  the  Seniors  in  a  fight  for  a  dry  class  banquet.  The 
"wets"  got  the  support  of  one  of  the  professors  who 
asked  the  men  in  his  lecture  one  day  if  they  were  babies 
and  had  to  still  drink  milk.  But  John  won  the  fight 
fairly  on  the  vote  of  the  class  and  whiskey  was  not 
served  on  the  banquet  table.  And  before  the  close  of 
his  Senior  year  he  had  seen  the  Honor  System  largely 


74  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

adopted  to  govern  examinations.  He  believed  that  one 
and  God  were  a  majority  in  any  crowd.  Very  few 
men  ever  actively  antagonized  him.  They  knew  he 
stood  for  the  things  they  ought  to  uphold.  He  did 
not  excuse  questionable  practices  for  himself  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  necessary  to  do  certain  things  in 
order  to  get  in  with  the  fellows.  One  of  his  fellow 
medical  students  who  professed  to  be  an  atheist  said 
of  him  one  night  in  conversation: 

"If  there  is  one  man  in  the  world  I  believe  in 
absolutely,  it  is  John  Anderson." 

''And  let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing,"  says  the 
Apostle  Paul.  As  if  these  manifold  labors  among  his 
fellow  students  were  not  sufficient,  he  ran  a  Boys'  Club 
in  the  slums  of  Louisville  and  had  a  Christmas  party 
for  them  during  the  holidays;  visited  the  City  Hos- 
pital on  Sundays  with  some  friends,  distributing  flow- 
ers and  holding  religious  services  for  the  shut-ins ;  and 
answered  charity  calls  among  the  poor  of  the  city. 
On  one  occasion  he  found  a  family  in  the  dead  of 
winter  living  in  rooms  over  a  livery  stable.  The 
drunkard  father  had  deserted  them,  and  the  mother,  a 
bottle-washer,  was  out  at  work  when  he  discovered 
the  two  children  huddled  together  in  the  middle  of 
the  floor  with  what  clothing  they  could  wrap  around 
them  to  keep  them  from  freezing.  There  was  no  coal 
or  bread  in  the  house.  John  had  groceries  and  coal 
sent  to  them  and  got  a  woman  tO'  look  after  the  chil- 
dren. On  a  later  visit,  he  found  the  father  at  home 
and  prayed  with  him  and  got  him  to  work.     Writing 


THE  LAST  YEAR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY      75 

of  Christmas,  19 13,  he  says  that  he  had  several  calls 
to  visit  the  sick  in  the  slums  on  that  day. 

Before  the  year  was  over  new  officers  were  elected 
in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  It  was  nearly  time  for  him  to 
leave  the  school  and  so  he  had  been  grooming  some 
of  the  strongest  of  the  men  to  take  his  place  that  the 
work  might  not  fall  down.  They  were  the  men  he  had 
persuaded  to  go  to  the  Summer  Conference,  and  some 
of  them  were  Student  Volunteers  by  then.  Kuei  Chow 
was  made  Chairman  of  the  Mission  Study  Committee. 
John  used  to  get  them  together  in  his  room  in  the  City 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  for  prayer  together.  He  had  moved  from 
the  Seminary  to  the  Association  which  was  nearer  the 
Medical  School  in  order  that  it  might  be  m.ore  con- 
venient to  have  his  fellow  ''medics"  in  his  room.  He 
was  always  trying  to  pour  his  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
into  them.  Perhaps  the  work  has  not  gone  on  so  well 
since  those  days,  but  he  did  his  best  to  perpetuate  it 
through  these  men  whom  he  called  into  the  service. 

A  letter  of  his  contains  the  following: 

A  few  days  past  I  read  the  first  three  chapters  of  Mark 
looking  for  several  things  about  Christ's  life.  Two  of  these 
things  were  popularity  and  opposition.  I  found  that  He  met 
with  opposition  six  times  and  had  some  indication  of  popular- 
ity eight  times.  I  want  to  finish  up  the  gospels  this  way.  I 
want  to  read  Paul's  life  looking  for  these  things  and  others 
that  I  have  on  this  list.  I  have  met  with  opposition  many 
times,  in  fact,  about  every  time  I  start  to  do  anything  there 
is  some  opposition  and  yet  if  God  is  with  me  I  pull  through. 
Paul  said:  'T  can  do  all  things  through  Him  that  strength- 
eneth  me." 


76  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

In  another  letter  written  near  the  close  of  the  session 
he  says : 

I  came  out  O.  K.  on  my  exams,  although  I  will  not  hear 
before  the  last  of  the  week.  I  am  not  at  all  uneasy  but  that 
I  got  through  and  I  did  not  have  to  do  as  many  of  the  class 
did,  who  cheated  their  way  through. 

Unremitting  and  abundant  service  for  his  fellows 
had  not  meant  the  forfeiture  of  his  medical  degree,  for 
he  received  his  M.  D.  at  the  commencement,  and  a 
little  later  passed  successfully  the  State  Medical  Board 
examinations  of  South  Carolina  and  received  his  li- 
cense to  practice  medicine. 


CHAPTER  VII:  A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE 


CHAPTER  VII 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE 


To  be  a  first  class  physician,  one  had  better  stick 
to  his  science  and  leave  preaching  to  the  parson.  To 
accomplish  the  best  results  in  the  profession  it  is  hardly 
wise  to  be  too  much  of  a  saint.  This  is  a  world  of 
give  and  take  and  in  the  keen  commercial  competition 
of  the  day,  too  much  idealism  means  failure.  Be 
straight  and  fair,  but  don't  do  more  than  you  are  paid 
to  do,  and  charge  well  for  your  services.  Religion  is 
good  in  its  place,  especially  for  women  and  children, 
but  an  excess  of  it  is  not  good  for  a  doctor.  So  say 
the  worldly-wise. 

But  did  John  Anderson's  absorbing  interest  in  bring- 
ing in  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men  militate  against 
his  efficiency  as  a  surgeon?  Rather  did  it  not  enlarge 
his  capacities  and  sympathies  and  make  him  the  more 
skillful  in  his  ministry  to  the  sick  ?  In  his  first  year  aS' 
an  interne  in  the  Good  Samaritan  Hospital  at  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  his  unusual  ability  as  a  physician  was 
manifested.  In  ten  and  a  half  months  he  gave  two 
hundred  and  thirteen  anesthetics  and  no  one  was  lost 
on  the  operating  table  on  account  of  the  anesthetic. 
He  assisted  in  eighty-one  operations  and  operated 
thirty-seven  times  himself,  and  he  averaged  caring  for 

79 


80  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

thirty  emergency  cases  a  month.  There  were  two  ex- 
ceptionally serious  cases  for  whose  recovery  he  was 
entirely  responsible.  One,  an  obstetrical  case,  in 
which  the  woman  was  poisoned,  was  turned  over  to 
him  by  her  physician  with  the  remark  that  he  had  done 
all  he  could  for  her  and  the  case  was  hopeless,  but  if 
John  wanted  to  try  his  hand  he  could  do  so.  Perhaps  it 
was  because  the  family  was  very  poor  that  the  doctor 
gave  her  up.  At  any  rate,  that  did  not  count  with 
John.  He  worked  steadily  for  seven  hours  that  night 
without  a  rest  before  he  was  rewarded  by  a  flicker  of 
the  eyelids  which  indicated  returning  consciousness. 
The  woman  was  finally  restored  to  her  grateful  hus- 
band. The  other,  also  a  septic  case,  this  time  a  man, 
was  brought  back  from  the  grave  after  his  own  physi- 
cian had  pronounced  him  beyond  hope,  by  John's  de- 
voted labors  on  his  behalf.  The  man  was  discharged 
from  the  hospital  some  days  thereafter,  declaring  that 
if  it  had  not  been  for  that  young  Dr.  Anderson  he 
would  not  have  been  alive  that  day. 

In  a  letter  John  describes  one  of  his  days  in  the 
hospital : 

Saturday  night  I  got  up  five  times.  On  that  night  I  had 
five  emergencies  before  twelve  o'clock  and  had  to  handle 
them  by  myself.  I  gave  four  anesthetics,  one  of  them  taking 
over  an  hour.  I  assisted  in  another  operation.  Had  about 
twelve  cases  to  come  in  besides  the  fifteen  in  the  wards  I 
had  to  look  after.  This  is  just  a  regular  day.  There  are 
eighty  or  ninety  more  patients  that  I  have  to  do  laboratory 
work  for,  also  go  with  their  private  physician  as  much  as 
I  can. 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE  81 

His  special  care  was  the  little  children  in  the  wards. 
One  little  baby,  a  foundling,  he  nicknamed  **Queen." 
She  was  his  pet.  He  made  it  a  practice  to  go  through 
the  wards  to  wish  each  patient  a  cheery  good  morning 
and  some  told  how  they  noticed  this  special  attention. 
There  was  no  smile  just  like  Dr.  Anderson's,  nor  any 
one  so  good-natured.  Of  Thanksgiving  day  and 
Christmas  John  wrote  in  two  letters  home : 

I  was  right  busy  Thanksgiving  day,  but  I  spent  all  the 
spare  time  in  visiting  the  patients  and  seeing  most  every 
nurse  and  asking  them  what  they  had  to  be  thankful  for. 
I  had  some  rich  replies.  Most  of  them  were  thankful  they 
were  living.  Many  did  not  know  what  to  say,  as  possibly 
they  had  not  thought  about  it.  On  the  whole,  most  of  them 
expressed  their  thanks  in  a  selfish  vein.  One  darky  said  that 
she  was  thankful  she  was  living  and  would  be  more  thank- 
ful if  I  would  give  her  something  to  eat  and  let  her  sit  up. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  my  whole  thought  was  of  the  peace 
that  I  was  thankful  for;  peace  of  mind,  body  and  spirit  in 
God's  leadership. 

I  have  enjoyed  this  Christmas  even  if  I  did  have  to  be 
away  from  you  all.  Thursday  night  I  did  crave  to  be  with 
you  all  and  have  some  of  the  good  times  I  have  had  at  home. 
I  could  not,  so  I  went  to  work  and  got  up  a  Christmas  tree 
for  the  children  here  in  the  hospital.  Some  little  presents 
were  sent  in  for  them  and  we  had  the  tree  and  decorations 
here.  I  fixed  up  some  electric  lights  to  light  the  tree.  I  got 
up  a  Santa  Claus  rig  and  marked  all  the  presents.  Got  up 
at  five  and  dressed,  got  the  tree  with  all  the  bundles  in  a 
sack  at  my  side  and  went  into  the  children's  ward.  There 
were  five  in  there.  I  went  around  and  picked  up  three  others 
and  brought  them  in.  There  were  several  other  children  in 
the  hospital,  but  they  could  not  be  moved.     I  gave  out  the 


82  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

presents  and  chatted  with  all  of  them.  After  this  I  had 
enough  apples  to  give  each  patient  in  the  wards  who  could 
eat  one,  one  apiece.  I  visited  all  the  patients  in  the  hospital 
that  morning  and  wished  them  a  Merry  Christmas.  I  carried 
Baby  Queen  with  me  and  she  enjoyed  it  as  much  as  any  of 
the  others.  She  appeared  to  be  a  little  afraid  at  first,  but 
as  soon  as  I  picked  her  up  she  began  to  pick  at  my  eyes. 
Queen  will  be  six  months  old  to-morrow  and  only  weighs 
twelve  pounds.  She  is  very,  very  bright,  can  play  peep-eye, 
put  out  her  hands  to  come  to  you,  and  notices  everything 
that  goes  on.  All  seemed  to  enjoy  the  occasion.  I  could 
hardly  keep  back  the  tears  while  fixing  the  tree  in  wishing 
that  I  was  at  home  and  a  child  again. 

One  of  his  patients  wrote  some  verses  which  she 
gave  to  him  shortly  after  this  Christmas.  The  form' 
is  rather  crude,  but  the  appreciation  is  genuine. 

Here's  to  dear  Dr.  Anderson, 

So  pure  and  undefiled: 
Most  every  time  you  see  him 

He's  carrying  a  foundling  child. 

Then  he  comes  with  a  smile  so  bewitching. 
That  he  sets  my  nerves  all  twitching; 

And  my  feelings  are  most  distressing, 
Until  he  is  through  with  the  surgical  dressing. 

Then  he's  gone  again  in  a  hurry, 

Just  as  gentle  and  mild; 
For  he  hasn't  a  single  worry, 

Except  for  a  foundling  child. 

He's  as  nice  as  any  brother. 

He's  kind  to  every  one: 
Oh!  Happy  must  be  the  mother 

That  possesses  such  a  son. 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE  83 

Oh  Nurses,  some  of  you  catch  him, 

Just  catch  him  if  you  can, 
This  wonderful  piece  of  manhood. 

This  Dr.  Anderson  man. 

Just  never  mind  his  shyness, 

Just  get  his  head  in  a  twirl; 
For  the  man  who  loves  the  foundling 

Is  the  man  for  any  girl. 

His  mother  wrote  to  him  in  her  concern  lest  he  wear 
himself  out  in  his  care  for  the  sick.     John  replied : 

You  asked  me  if  I  did  not  get  tired  seeing  and  living  with 
the  sick.  I  do  not  get  tired,  but  it  is  quite  a  strain.  I 
have  seen  some  cases  that  I  have  worked  so  hard  over  and 
then  they  die.  When  I  get  alone  at  some  other  work  I  can- 
not keep  back  the  tears,  although  I  never  saw  them  before 
coming  to  the  hospital.  I  had  a  darky  die  that  I  wanted  to 
see  get  well  so  bad.  This,  irregular  hours,  and  other  strain 
is  what  sometimes  wearies  me. 

Sometimes  it  is  stated  that  a  physician  should  culti- 
vate a  kind  of  steely  indifference  in  order  to  be  at  his 
best  professionally.  Certainly  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  patient  it  is  desirable  that  the  doctor  have  the  big- 
ness of  heart  and  sympathy  that  John  Anderson  had 
for  the  suffering.  The  sources  of  his  sympathy  were 
deep  in  his  religious  life.    He  wrote  in  one  letter: 

Each  day  as  I  go  about  I  see  so  much  being  done  for  the 
physical  body.  Effort  is  made  here  and  there  to  save  this 
or  that  person's  physical  life.  That  is  all  well  and  good, 
but  of  what  value  is  the  physical  life  without  the  spiritual 
life  being  saved?  My  heart  burns  more  and  more  each  day 
for  those  who   do   not  know   Christ  and  His  love.     You 


84  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

cannot  help  but  feel  His  love  and  strength  if  you  will  only 
let  Him  come  into  your  life. 

And  so  as  he  went  his  rounds  in  the  hospital  the 
cure  of  souls  was  his  great  passion.  There  was  nothing 
being  done  socially  or  religiously  for  the  nurses  and 
in  the  routine  of  their  work  to  which  they  were  bound, 
even  their  Sundays  were  rarely  their  own.  There  were 
influences,  moreover,  that  tended  to  mar  the  best  in 
their  lives,  and  John  saw  the  need  for  definite  religious 
work  on  their  behalf.  He  wanted  to  organize  a  vesper 
service  in  the  hospital  for  them,  but  the  superintendent 
objected.  In  a  letter  dated  January  6,  1914,  he  tells 
of  this  effort : 

Last  Friday  night  a  group  of  nurses  got  together  for  a 
prayer-meeting  after  much  talk  and  they  are  going  to  keep 
this   up   each  week.     They   have   never  had   any   religious 

services  before  to  amount  to  anything.     I  got  Miss  H 

of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  to  speak  to  them  a  few 
weeks  past  and  they  were  quite  carried  away  with  her.  The 
Superintendent  said  "No,"  but  I  persisted  until  I  got  per- 
mission for  her  to  speak.  I  am  expecting  to  organize  a 
mission  study  class  soon  among  the  nurses  and  would  have 
done  so  earlier  had  it  not  been  for  the  Superintendent. 

John  had  a  way  of  winning  people's  hearts  to  higher 
and  holier  living  by  drawing  them  to  himself  through 
little  kindly  services  in  the  every  day  rush  of  life.  He 
used  to  lighten  the  work  of  the  nurses  now  and  then 
by  carrying  a  tray  of  food  to  a  patient  or  by  cleaning 
up  things  which  it  lay  in  their  duty  to  care  for,  and 
by  other  little  unprofessional  services.  It  is  to  such  a 
person  that  one  in  trouble   immediately  turns,   even 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE  85 

though  in  health  his  religion  was  held  in  light  esteem. 
This  young  interne  was  the  first  one  called  by  Mrs. 
Green,  the  housekeeper  of  the  hospital,  when  she  met 
with  a  fatal  accident  in  the  hospital  elevator.  She 
was  a  woman  of  fifty  and  she  had  lived  a  careless  life, 
gambling  annually  on  the  Kentucky  horse  races,  getting 
drunk  now  and  then,  and  so  on.  Two  of  her  sons  were 
professional  gamblers.  On  her  way  upstairs  one  day, 
the  electric  current  in  the  elevator  went  oflF  half  way 
between  the  second  and  third  floors.  She  tried  to 
climb  out  on  to  the  second  floor,  but  the  power  came 
on  suddenly  and  she  was  caught  and  crushed  against 
the  upper  floor.  She  was  terribly  mangled  and  knew 
that  she  did  not  have  long  to  live.  She  sent  for  John 
to  come  and  talk  to  her  after  everything  possible  had 
been  done  for  her  in  the  operating  room.  He  came 
and  with  his  New  Testament  in  his  hand  led  her  to 
understand  that  there  is  mercy  and  pardon  with  God 
even  to  those  who  call  on  Him  in  their  last  extremity. 
And  she  was  wonderfully  converted.  From  the  time 
of  the  accident  she  only  lived  twenty-eight  hours,  but 
she  had  them  call  all  the  servants  who  were  in  her 
charge  to  her  room  and  she  witnessed  to  them  of  the 
salvation  which  was  hers.  Her  children  came  and 
she  told  them  not  to  cry  for  her,  that  she  was  going 
to  leave  all  pain  and  go  to  a  land  of  joy.  *'The 
weather  is  fine  here,"  she  said,  ''but  nothing  to  be 
compared  with  that  above."  She  told  her  friends 
and  the  nurses  around  her  bed  that  she  wanted  to  meet 
every  one  above.    John,  writing  of  it,  said  : 


86  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

It  was  the  most  beautiful  and  expressive  death  I  have  ever 
witnessed.  I  went  to  the  funeral  on  Friday  afternoon  and 
the  body  was  taken  to  Frankfort,  thirty-five  miles  away,  for 
burial.  I  did  not  have  time  to  go,  but  John  (her  son)  begged 
me  so  hard  that  I  could  not  resist.  Her  death  shook  the 
whole  hospital  and  the  next  few  nights  many  of  the  patients 
could  not  sleep.  Some  of  the  lessons  I  have  learned  from 
this  experience  are:  There  is  a  Christ  who  is  able  to  save; 
in  all  Americans  there  is  a  feeling  of  the  reality  of  God  in 
some  form  or  other  whether  they  acknowledge  it  or  not  for 
they  have  heard  of  Christ;  I  should  refrain  from  judging  or 
criticizing  any  one  and  do  more  to  see  what  is  deep  in  their 
lives.  This  has  broadened  my  sympathy  for  people  who  do 
not  live  as  I  would  like  them  to  live. 

As  in  other  places,  John's  service  for  others  was  not 
confined  to  the  institution  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected. While  in  the  hospital  at  Lexington  he  still 
continued  his  work  with  the  Kentucky  Volunteer  Union 
and  did  the  major  part  of  the  arranging  for  the  an- 
nual conference  in  February  at  Georgetown  College. 
He  led  a  mission  study  class  in  the  University  of  Ken- 
tucky. His  comment  in  one  of  his  letters  about  the 
University  was  that  they  had  fourteen  hundred  stu- 
dents and  not  a  single  Volunteer  for  foreign  missions. 
He  was  a  regular  attendant  at  church  despite  his  heavy 
schedule  of  duties  at  the  hospital.  H  he  could  not  get 
off  in  the  morning  he  went  at  night.  He  made  talks 
in  the  Young  People's  Society.  He  was  appointed 
chairman  of  an  inter-church  committee  to  get  the  for- 
eigners of  the  city  into  English  classes.  One  of  his 
best  friends  in  Lexington  was  a  Greek  who  ran  a  shoe- 
shine  parlor  on  the  main  street  of  the  city.    John  had 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE  87 

been  kind  to  this  man's  wife  when  she  was  in  the  hos- 
pital and  had  helped  them  out  in  a  situation  where 
they  had  been  dishonestly  overcharged  by  a  doctor  in 
the  city. 

The  following  year  was  spent  in  New  York  in  the 
Post  Graduate  and  Riverside  Hospitals.  He  had  been 
chosen  by  the  China  Medical  Board  of  the  Rockefeller 
Foundation  as  one  of  the  first  of  the  young  doctors 
they  would  support  in  China,  and  they  called  him  to 
New  York  for  further  preparation.  A  few  extracts 
from  his  letters  show  that  the  great  city  had  no  power 
to  lure  him  from  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty 
as  a  follower  of  Christ: 

Sunday  I  went  to  church  and  Sunday  School.  After 
dinner  I  came  back  thinking  I  would  be  in  time  for  church 
here  (service  in  hospital),  but  failed.  We  have  only  a  formal 
service  and  I  do  not  enjoy  it  at  all,  but  I  try  to  attend  when 
it  is  possible  as  my  influence  might  be  of  some  value. 

I  am  on  duty  to-day,  but  I  have  got  some  one  to  relieve 
me  this  afternoon  for  a  few  hours  when  I  am  going  down 
town  to  hear  some  missionaries. 

I  used  to  read  my  Bible  as  a  duty  and  did  not  get  much 
out  of  it.    But  now  I  find  it  a  joy  and  pleasure. 

I  went  to  prayer-meeting  last  night  to  hear  Dr.  Jowett. 
He  was  not  as  good  as  he  has  been  sometimes,  but  possibly 
it  was  my  fault.    I  have  not  been  feeling  extra  good. 

What  fun  is  there  in  that  kind  of  a  dull  church  go- 
ing existence  ?  cries  some  young  college  man.  Do  you 
expect  us  to  revert  to  the  stupid  days  of  the  Puritans? 
On  with  the  dance — there  is  no  excitement  in  prayer- 


88  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

meetings!  Well,  for  John  Anderson  at  least,  there 
was  no  dullness  in  his  existence,  no  somber  asceticism 
or  sanctimonious  withdrawal  from  the  pleasures  of  life. 
He  entered  heartily  into  the  social  good  times  of  the 
hospital,  the  masquerade  parties,  the  good  cheer  of 
dinners  with  other  doctors.  And  just  because  he  had 
his  best  fun  in  making  other  folks  happy  does  not 
mean  that  he  satisfied  himself  with  a  spurious  brand 
of  happiness.  Perhaps  he  was  nearer  the  secret  of 
happiness  than  those  who  seek  it  hke  moths  in  the 
candle  flame  of  their  impulses  and  passions. 

John's  conception  of  the  value  of  student  Christian 
conferences  has  already  been  indicated  in  these  pages. 
His  younger  brother  and  sisters  were  in  their  first 
years  of  college  life  when  he  wrote  to  his  father  from 
New  York : 

I  do  not  care  to  make  my  will  at  this  time,  but  if  I  should 
die  I  request  that  the  first  money  to  be  taken  from  my  in- 
surance be  enough  to  send  William  and  my  younger  sisters 
to  one  of  the  quadrennial  Student  Volunteer  Conventions 
and  enough  money  to  send  them  to  at  least  one  of  the 
Southern  Student  Conferences  at  Blue  Ridge.  Not  anything 
in  my  life  has  helped  me  more  than  these  two  things.  I 
think  that  William  should  go  this  summer  by  all  means.  I 
would  hate  to  have  him  wait  another  year  and  then  possibly 
not  go,  for  he  might  not  get  a  grasp  as  to  what  life  is  and 
what  it  means  to  live  a  life  of  service.  There  are  many 
people  who  are  just  existing,  not  living,  with  no  purpose,  no 
desire  to  be  anything.  William  is  in  a  dangerous  period  of 
life,  awfully  dangerous.  Are  you  all  going  to  let  him  go 
on  this  way  and  not  encourage  him  to  choose  the  kind  of 
life  he  is  going  to  live?  Do  you  want  him  to  select  his  life 
work  apart  from  God?     After  one  of  these  conferences  a 


A  HOSPITAL  INTERNE  89 

fellow  can  do  more  plowing,  cutting  wood  or  anything  else, 
for  he  is  ashamed  to  let  a  little  work  conquer  him.  These 
conferences  have  enabled  me  to  do  far  better  work  in  drill- 
ing wells,  enjoying  better  health,  and  have  kept  me  out  of 
a  great  deal  of  mischief  and  meanness.  I  had  rather  see 
William  go  to  this  conference  or  really  want  to  go,  than  to 
be  in  Furman  next  year.  If  he  goes  and  gets  the  right  idea 
of  life,  he  is  going  to  be  in  Furman  no  matter  what  happens, 
whether  you  all  assist  him  at  all  or  not.  If  you  educate  a 
fool  he  will  be  a  bigger  fool,  as  the  old  proverb  goes.  If 
you  educate  a  fellow  without  any  ambition  to  be  or  do  any- 
thing, the  less  desire  he  will  have  to  be  anybody.  I  would 
like  to  see  all  my  younger  sisters  and  my  brother  of  great 
influence  in  their  communities.  They  can  be  if  they  get  the 
right  conception  of  life.  Possibly  you  think  that  I  am  crazy 
about  these  conferences  and  I  am.  They  have  been  of  un- 
told value  to  me  and  I  want  to  pass  on  the  benefits  to  some 
one  else,  so  that  they  too  may  be  helped.  Some  professors 
would  rather  have  their  students  be  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy than  followers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

With  the  coming  of  summer,  the  time  for  sailing 
to  China  drew  very  near.  John  had  already  received 
his  appointment  from  the  Southern  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Board  some  months  earlier.  He  was  engaged 
to  be  marrried  in  June  to  Miss  Minnie  Middleton  who 
had  graduated  from  Meredith  College  in  North  Caro- 
lina, where  she  subsequently  taught  in  the  English  de- 
partment, and  who  had  later  graduated  from  the  Bap- 
tist Woman's  Training  School  in  Louisville.  There 
was  the  rush  of  the  winding  up  of  affairs  in  America, 
the  gathering  of  equipment  for  the  voyage  and  the  life 
in  the  great  land  across  the  seas. 


90  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

John  wrote  to  his  father : 

For  nearly  five  years  I  have  been  looking  forward  to 
going  to  this  field.  I  have  been  trying  to  prepare 
myself  for  this  work  for  nine  years.  Not  any  of  you  all  can 
feel  the  joy  in  my  life  when  I  found  that  it  was  possible 
for  me  to  begin  this  work.  Then  I  have  never  felt  so  com- 
pletely unable  to  do  any  work  as  I  have  in  the  past  few 
days.  God  has  opened  the  field,  the  way,  and  every  op- 
portunity for  me,  and  now  I  am  willing  to  let  Him  come  into 
my  life  and  take  me  and  use  me,  completely  surrendered  to 
His  will.  Then  what  am  I  going  to  carry  those  Chinese? 
I  will  not  tell  you  the  questions  I  have  asked  myself,  but  I 
feel  my  weakness.  I  feel  the  need  of  your  prayers  as  I 
never  felt  it  before  in  my  life. 

And  in  another  letter  he  said : 

It  is  one  of  the  hardest  things  for  me  to  get  rid  of  that 
selfish  spirit  that  makes  me  think  of  what  people  say  about 
what  I  do,  rather  than  what  God  might  say.  This  is  one  of 
the  reasons  that  I  have  wished  to  bury  myself  in  the  interior 
of  China  where  no  one  may  hear  of  the  work  that  God  can 
do  through  me. 


CHAPTER  VIII:  INTO  THE  FAR  EAST 


CHAPTER  VIII 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST 


A  WEDDING  in  June;  a  farewell  service  to  the  depart- 
ing missionaries  in  the  old  home  church ;  the  last  good- 
bys  to  loved  ones  left  behind ;  and  then  the  long  journey 
to  the  great  land  beyond  the  Pacific.  With  the  high 
hopes  of  those  who  sent  them  out,  with  the  holy  pur- 
poses of  true  apostles,  they  ventured  forth.  To  father 
and  mother  in  the  old  home  and  to  several  of  his  closest 
friends  John  quoted  this  poem  in  letters  at  the  time 
of  parting: 

"Go  thou  thy  way  and  I  go  mine; 

Apart,  yet  not  afar; 
Only  a  thin  veil  hangs  between 

The  pathways  where  we  are; 
And  'God  keep  watch  'tween  thee  and  me.' 

This  is  my  prayer. 
He  looks  thy  way — He  looketh  mine, 

And  keeps  us  near. 

I  know  not  where  the  road  may  lie, 

Or  which  way  mine  may  be; 
If  mine  will  lead  through  parching  sands 

And  thine  beside  the  sea: 
Yet  'God  keeps  watch  'tween  thee  and  me,* 

So  never  fear: 
He  holds  thy  hand.    He  claspeth  mine, 

And  keeps  us  near. 
93 


94  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

Should  wealth  and  fame  perchance  be  thine, 

And  my  lot  lowly  be, 
Or  you  be  sad  or  sorrowful, 

And  glory  be  for  me: 
Yet  'God  keeps  watch  'tween  thee  and  me/ 

Both  be  His  care. 
One  arm  'round  thee  and  one  'round  me. 

Will  keep  us  near. 

I'll  sigh  sometimes  to  see  thy  face, 

But  since  this  cannot  be, 
I'll  leave  thee  to  the  care  of  Him 

Who  cares  for  thee  and  me. 
'I'll  keep  thee  both  beneath  my  wings.' 

This  comfort  dear, 
One  wing  o'er  thee  and  one  o'er  me. 

So  we  are  near." 

At  Chicago  on  the  way  to  China,  the  Andersons 
joined  a  group  of  missionaries  who  were  making  the 
same  boat  from  Vancouver.  A  man  on  his  way  out  to 
India  to  drill  oil  wells  occupied  a  berth  opposite  them. 
The  first  night  out  from  Chicago,  he  was  taken 
violently  ill  from  gall  stones,  with  convulsions  and 
nausea  and  high  fever.  John  took  the  man  in  charge 
and  cared  for  him  all  the  way  to  the  coast.  At  ^^''an- 
couver,  in  consultation  with  the  hotel  physician,  it 
was  decided  that  an  operation  was  necessary.  His 
passage  on  the  steamer  had  to  be  canceled,  his  baggage 
sent  to  the  hotel,  telegrams  sent  to  his  wife  and  the  oil 
company  in  Pennsylvania,  and  John  cared  for  all  these 
matters.  On  the  next  day,  however,  the  man  felt  bet- 
ter and  refused  to  be  operated  on.  He  insisted  that 
he  was  going  on  the  steamer.     So  John  rearranged 


OFF   FOR   A    WHEELBARROW    RJDE 

Both  sides  of  the  family  necessary  in  order  to  preserve  the 
balance. 


LOYAL  FRIENDS  OF  THE  HOSPITAL 
The  patient  who  was  brought  back  to  life  by  interesting 
her  in  an  adopted  baby  after  losing  her  own  little  son 
thru  the  mal-treatment  of  an  ignorant  midwife.  A  bottle 
fed  baby  is  a  new  thing  in  China.  Ordinarily  the  Chinese 
do  not  use  cow's  milk.  This  is  one  cause  of  the  high 
death  rate  of  children 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  95 

everything  connected  with  the  trip,  and  as  he  continued 
unwell  all  the  way  across  the  Pacific,  John  cared  for 
him  as  far  as  Shanghai.  The  man  preferred  this 
young  doctor  to  the  ship's  surgeon.  There  was  no 
fee  given  for  all  this  service.  John  said  one  time  that 
he  thought  the  oil  company  ought  to  pay  him  fifty 
dollars,  but  he  probably  never  sent  in  a  claim. 

The  tedium  of  the  three-day  railroad  journey  to 
Vancouver  was  relieved  by  games  which  John  organ- 
ized for  the  party.  He  also  took  care  of  two  young 
women  who  were  making  the  trip  alone.  He  went  up 
into  the  baggage  car  and  looked  up  their  trunks  for 
them,  and  was  the  general  utility  man  for  the  crowd. 
And  so  on  the  boat,  being  one  of  those  who  did  not 
succumb  to  the  sickness  of  the  sea,  he  kept  up  the 
spirits  of  the  others,  with  Rook  parties,  deck  sports, 
and  so  on.  One  of  the  party  was  a  Chinese,  a  graduate 
of  Vanderbilt,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  competitor  in 
all  their  contests.  He  was  returning  to  Peking  to 
teach  in  the  Christian  University  there.  Of  his  asso- 
ciation with  John  Anderson  he  has  written : 

I  must  acknowledge  that  I  have  in  my  life  seen  or  met 
very  few  men  to  whom  my  heart  went  out  so  unreservedly 
as  in  the  case  of  John  Anderson.  He  was  so  jolly,  good- 
natured,  energetic  and  unselfish.  He  never  thought  of 
danger  to  himself. 

An  ocean  voyage  can  be  a  very  unhappy  experience 
to  certain  susceptible  natures.  This  voyage  was  no 
exception  and  there  were  several  whom  John  had  to 
cheer  up  with  his  jokes  and  medicine.    One  lady  who 


06  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

was  especially  miserable  was  given  his  own  berth 
which  was  more  comfortable  and  he  slept  thereafter 
in  the  cramped  quarters  where  some  of  the  crew  were 
staying.  These  were  not  great  deeds  perhaps,  but  it 
is  the  little  kindnesses,  the  thought  fulness  for  others' 
comfort,  which  reveal  a  genuine  unselfishness  of  spirit. 
From  the  steamer  he  wrote 

The  nearer  I  get  to  China,  the  closer  I  feel  that  I  am 
to  God  and  the  more  I  feel  that  I  am  doing  what  He  would 
have  me  do. 

On  September  26,  191 6,  they  landed  at  Shanghai. 
Kuei  Chow,  who'  had  established  his  home  in  that  city, 
had  them  out  to  dinner.  On  returning  to  China,  Chow 
and  his  brothers  had  made  a  gift  of  $3,000  to  the  mis- 
sion hospital  at  Yang  Chow.  Yang  Chow  itself  was 
visited  on  the  way  up  through  the  interior  to  Peking 
to  the  Language  School.  Of  the  work  there  John 
wrote : 

I  found  that  Dick  was  the  only  doctor  there  and  he  had 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  out-patients  every  day  besides 
the  hundred  in-patients.  He  had  no  American  nurse  at 
that  time — she  was  away  resting  for  a  short  time.  Can  you 
imagine  a  doctor  having  this  much  work?  He  has  been 
here  ever  since  he  arrived  in  China  and  has  not  had  any 
vacation.  He  was  run  down  and  needs  rest  badly.  This 
is  the  place  the  Rockefeller  Foundation  is  wanting  to  send 
me  to.  Every  morning  before  Dick  looks  at  any  of  his  pa- 
tients (except  emergencies),  he  has  a  prayer-meeting  with 
all  the  in-patients  who  can  come  to  the  chapel  and  with 
the  out-patients.  One  morning  he  leads  and  the  next  morn- 
ing a  Chinese  preacher  leads.     I  attended  the  service  on 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  9T 

Sunday  morning  and  I  do  not  recall  any  service  in  America 
that  was  more  spiritual  or  reverent  than  this,  though  every- 
thing was  in  Chinese. 

It  was  thought  at  that  time  that  the  Andersons  were 
to  be  located  at  Chengchow,  Honan,  in  connection 
with  the  Interior  China  Mission.  This  city  was  also- 
visited  on  the  way  to  Peking.  Of  that  place  John 
wrote : 

I  wish  that  I  had  five  lives  instead  of  one  as  all  could  be 
used.  Just  think  of  the  need  here  in  this  city;  the  things 
that  you  see  make  you  shudder.  That  is  not  only  true  of  this 
city,  but  of  others.  Oh,  that  I  could  put  one  of  my  lives  at 
Soochow,  one  at  Yang  Chow,  one  at  Pochow,  one  at  Kuei 
Lin  and  one  here.    The  work  is  greater  than  I  ever  dreamed^ 

The  North  China  Union  Language  School  is  lo- 
cated in  Peking,  the  capital  of  thp  Chinese  Republic. 
Nearly  all  the  new  missionaries  who  are  to  work  in 
the  Northern  Mandarin  speaking  section  of  China 
study  the  language  in  this  school  in  their  first  year. 
The  enrollment  has  been  over  one  hundred  in  the  last 
few  sessions.  The  establishment  of  this  school,  and 
several  other  similar  schools  in  other  sections  of  China, 
has  smoothed  out  the  path  of  the  young  missionary 
wonderfully  and  has  made  the  introduction  into 
Chinese  life  much  easier.  Instead  of  sitting  down 
alone  in  some  isolated  station  with  an  old  Chinese 
scholar,  six  or  eight  hours  a  day,  who  gave  up  his 
knowledge  of  his  mother  tongue  only  by  a  process  of 
extraction  awkwardly  undertaken  by  the  one  who 
sought  to  learn,  there  are  now  group  classes  in  charge 


:98  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

of  trained  teachers.  There  is  recreation  together  and 
sight-seeing  trips  in  one  of  the  most  interesting  cities 
in  the  world.  The  Altar  of  Heaven,  the  Great  Wall 
creeping  for  fifteen  hundred  miles  across  the  northern 
border,  the  Forbidden  City  of  the  ancient  Emperors, 
the  marvelous  Summer  Palace  of  the  Empress 
Dov^ager,  are  all  in  easy  journeys  from  the  school 
hostel.  Moreover,  there  is  the  opportunity  of  hearing 
mature  missionaries  in  lectures  to  the  school,  and  the 
large  English-speaking  student  population  in  the 
capital  is  a  field  for  the  teaching  of  Bible  classes  before 
one  is  able  to  get  into  regular  missionary  v^ork. 

John  dreaded  the  study  of  the  Chinese  language. 
He  hated  to  get  back  to  books.  He  did  not  v^ant  to  lay 
down  his  medical  work  which  he  loved  so  thoroughly 
even  for  a  short  interval.  He  wrote  of  his  introduc- 
tion to  the  study  on  the  2nd  of  October : 

We  had  our  first  day  of  language  study.  I  felt  as  tired 
as  if  I  had  done  a  whole  day  of  plowing.  It  takes  every 
bit  of  energy  you  have  to  try  and  catch  the  sounds  that  the 
teacher  makes.  It  takes  as  much  energy  as  to  stay  real 
firing  mad  all  the  time. 

And  a  little  later  he  wrote : 

Did  you  ever  study  until  your  head  fairly  ached?  That 
is  the  way  with  this  language  here.  But  I  am  enjoying  it 
and  I  would  not  change  positions  with  any  doctor  in 
America. 

It  was  not  long,  however^  before  his  hands  were  full 
with  caring  for  fellow  language  students.  Of  the  ex- 
periences of  those  days  Mrs.  Anderson  writes: 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  99 

We  had  no  sooner  arrived  in  Peking  than  demands  began 
to  be  made  on  John's  time,  and  he  gave  it  not  only  willingly, 
but  with  real  joy,  because  he  was  so  much  more  interested 
in  medicine  than  in  the  language.  It  used  to  be  a  joke  to 
us  both  that  no  matter  how  blue  he  was  over  studying  (and 
that  was  often),  some  one  was  sure  to  arrive  with  a  "bing** 
(sickness)  and  then  he  was  happy  again,  dosing  out  pills 
and  giving  directions  for  proper  treatment.  The  first  few 
weeks  were  very  strenuous.  No  doctor  had  been  provided 
for  the  Language  School  and  we  had  some  serious  illness,  five 
cases  of  dysentery  and  four  of  typhoid,  one  of  which  de- 
veloped into  pneumonia  of  the  most  dangerous  type.  John 
not  only  doctored,  but  nursed,  often  sitting  up  all  night. 
And  those  whom  he  nursed  there,  as  elsewhere,  can  testify 
to  his  ability  and  gentleness.  He  seemed  to  know  by  instinct 
the  things  a  sick  person  wanted  done  and  did  them  with  a 
deftness  and  sympathy  that  many  a  nurse  would  envy.  He 
often  said  that  he  loved  nursing,  and  he  studied  it  too,  know- 
ing how  often  there  would  be  need  of  such  training  in 
China. 

During  the  year  there  were  many  other  cases,  both  among 
the  foreigners  and  Chinese  who  came  to  him  for  treatment. 
I  don't  believe  there  was  a  servant  who  escaped  having  some- 
thing done  for  him.  John  and  one  or  two  others  interested, 
bore  the  expense  of  having  an  operation  done  on  one  and 
later  cared  for  that  servant's  little  son  who  was  very  ill  with 
pneumonia,  going  two  or  three  times  a  day  to  their  little 
home,  helping  give  him  sponge  baths,  etc.  He  went  for 
weeks  to  one  teacher's  home,  treating  his  children  who  had 
trachoma.  The  head  teacher  came  to  him  for  tuberculosis 
examination  and  seemed  always  grateful  for  John's  con- 
tinued interest  in  his  diet  and  care  of  himself. 

John  had  a  "way"  with  his  patients  and  they  often 
"minded"  obediently  when  I  hardly  expected  them  to  do  so. 

I  recall  especially  the  case  of  Miss  P who  lost  her  mind 

for  a  while.     She  roomed  next  door  to  us  and  John  was- 


100         A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

often  called  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  quiet  her.  Once 
when  she  ran  away  from  the  hospital,  he  brought  her  up 
to  our  room  and  I  remember  distinctly  how  he  coaxed  her 
with  jokes  and  foolishness  into  taking  a  cup  of  cocoa,  the 
first  food  she  had  taken  in  days. 

There  was  nothing  at  the  Language  School  Hostel  in 
which  he  did  not  have  a  hand.  At  Chinese  New  Year  he 
played  the  part  of  kitchen  coohe,  all  the  servants  having 
been  given  a  holiday,  and  he  left  the  kitchen  shining  clean. 
I  remember  how  he  boasted  that  he  had  used  twice  the  usual 
amount  of  water. 

(Of  that  day  John  himself  wrote:  "I  got  to  wash  dishes 
twice.  It  was  work,  but  I  enjoyed  it  better  than  any  day  I 
have  had  in  China.  I  wish  I  could  learn  Chinese  that  way. 
I  would  change  in  a  minute.") 

If  there  was  ever  a  stunt  on,  John  was  sure  to  do  more 
than  his  share  of  the  work  that  didn't  show,  but  counted 
most.  I  remember  one  night  I  was  chairman  of  a  serving 
committee  when  we  were  having  a  great  crowd.  He  found 
us  all  a  bit  confused  about  the  best  way  to  do  it  and  in  a 
few  minutes  had  us  organized  so  that  things  went  smoothly. 

Some  of  us  know  that  there  was  no  financial  return 
for  all  this  service  for  the  sick,  and  that  John  used 
up  practically  all  of  his  private  stock  of  drugs  that 
he  had  brought  from  America  without  being  re- 
imbursed. And  he  did  this  in  a  time  of  real  personal 
difficulty  because  of  the  falling  foreign  exchange.  The 
monthly  salary  was  eaten  up  in  board  and  room  rent, 
and  often  there  was  only  the  margin  of  a  dollar  or 
two  for  incidentals  after  these  charges  were  paid.  But 
those  who  were  sick  had  no  money  either  and  he  would 
not  withhold  his  hand  whatever  it  might  cost  him. 
The  Language  School  was  in  its  beginnings  and  no 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  101 

doctor  had  been  employed  to  care  for  the  students. 
It  is  customary  for  one  who  goes  to  hve  in  China 
to  take  a  Chinese  name.  This  is  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  in  transliterating  foreign  names  into  the 
Chinese  characters  and  sounds.  Usually  one's  first 
Chinese  teacher  decides  on  the  name  which  is  fitting. 
There  are  only  one  hundred  Chinese  surnames  and  so 
the  range  of  selection  is  limited.  John  Anderson  was 
given  the  name  of  An,  meaning  ''peace,"  and  his  title 
as  a  doctor  was  Dai  Fu — An  Dai  Fu,  or  as  we  should 
say.  Dr.  Peace.  The  surname  in  Chinese  comes  before 
the  given  name  or  title. 

A  letter  dated  February  4,  19 17,  reads: 

The  teacher  that  we  have  now  is  not  a  Christian.  I  have 
been  talking  to  him.  We  have  just  got  to  the  place  that 
we  can  talk  to  the  Chinese  about  being  Christians  at  all. 
It  is  hard  to  say  what  we  want  to  say  in  Chinese.  We  may 
think  that  it  is  not  appreciated,  but  it  does  count  if  it  is  done 
in  the  right  spirit.  "Even  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  His 
name " 

A  later  letter,  dated  April  ist,  says: 

I  must  say  that  I  was  a  little  blue  last  fall  for  a  while  with 
the  language,  but  it  gets  more  interesting  the  farther  we  go. 
We  have  a  great  deal  of  fun  in  learning  it.  We  tell  all 
the  jokes  we  can  think  of.  I  have  never  regretted  that  I 
came  to  China  in  the  least,  but  I  have  been  a  little  dis- 
couraged as  to  the  language.  Now  we  can  get  around  and 
we  can  make  most  of  the  people  understand  us.  Just  this 
past  week  I  received  the  fourth  appeal  from  one  of  our 
missions  not  so  very  far  from  here  asking  me  to  come  there 
for  a  year  if  I  cannot  stay  longer.    There  is  a  good  hospital. 


102  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

fourteen  adults  and  thirteen  children  in  the  mission,  not  to 
speak  of  thousands  of  Chinese,  without  any  physician.  The 
doctor  had  to  take  his  daughter  home  on  account  of  her 
health.  They  are  more  than  a  day's  journey  from  any  physi- 
cian. This  is  only  one  appeal;  I  could  give  numbers  of 
others. 

A  man  about  four  days'  journey  overland  v^rote  here 
about  two  months  ago  asking  for  a  doctor  to  come  and  be 
with  his  wife  during  confinement.  This  was  the  nearest  place 
where  there  were  any  doctors.  No  one  could  go.  So  he 
brought  her  to  Peking  about  a  month  ago.  She  caught  small- 
pox on  the  way  down  in  one  of  the  places  they  spent  the 
night  in,  the  result  being  that  the  mother  and  child  both 
died.  We  have  a  number  of  such  things  before  us  from  day 
to  day.    I  am  glad  that  I  am  here. 

At  the  close  of  the  school  year  in  June,  he  wrote: 

The  Chinese  have  little  fighting  blood  in  them.  They  al- 
ways talk  and  never  fight.  I  think  they  would  be  better  off 
if  they  had  fighting  blood  in  them.  Not  that  I  want  to  see 
them  fight,  but  I  want  to  see  them  have  manhood  enough 
to  stand  for  the  right,  for  justice,  and  stand  against  sin 
and  wrong  and  evil.  In  my  student  Bible  class  I  have  been 
trying  to  help  the  fellows  into  this  attitude.  They  think 
that  all  that  is  necessary  is  for  them  to  live  a  moral  life,  let 
others  do  as  they  please.  They  don't  think  that  it  makes 
any  difference  whether  they  join  the  church  or  not.  It  is 
hard  to  get  them  to  come  out  and  make  a  bold  stand.  To- 
day one  of  my  fellows  united  with  the  church  and  I  believe 
others  will  unite  soon.  I  am  going  to  get  a  personal  inter- 
view with  each  one  of  them  if  I  can  before  I  leave. 

That  summer  was  spent  by  the  seaside  at  Chefoo, 
one  of  the  ports  of  Shantung.  A  large  summer  colony 
of  Americans  and  British  takes  advantage  of  the  op- 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  103 

portunities  there  for  sea  bathing  and  boating,  and 
there  are  tennis  and  cricket,  teas  and  concerts.  Dr. 
Nevius,  one  of  the  earliest  American  missionaries  to 
North  China,  imported  fruit  trees  and  now  the  hills 
that  slope  down  to  the  harbor  are  covered  with  orchards 
that  bear  the  finest  a-pples,  peaches  and  pears.  There 
are  fine  vineyards  as  well.  Dr.  Hunter  Corbett,  over 
eighty  years  old,  who  came  to  China  in  the  sixties,  had 
a  villa  high  up  on  one  of  the  overlooking  hills.  Steam- 
ers of  many  nations  come  to  anchor  behind  the  break- 
water. The  Chinese  fishing  junks  carry  out  long  nets 
which  are  in  the  evening  or  early  morning  drawn 
ashore  by  the  half -naked  fishermen.  The  American 
flag,  the  most  beautiful  in  all  the  port,  floats  high  over 
the  Consulate  on  Light-house  Hill. 

A  stone  house,  right  by  the  sea,  was  occupied  by 
a  jolly  crowd  of  former  friends,  of  which  the  Ander- 
sons were  a  part.  There  were  frequent  picnics  out 
near  the  Chinese  fort  that  guards  the  mouth  of  the 
Chefoo  harbor.  In  July  there  was  a  moonlight  fete 
in  the  American  Consulate  gardens  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Red  Cross,  with  Chinese  jugglers,  a  musical  pro- 
gram given  by  visiting  ''talent,"  and  booths  with  soda 
and  candy  for  sale.  Then  there  was  a  two-day  trip 
across  to  Hwanghsien  and  the  first  experience  with  a 
Chinese  "Shan  Tzu,"  a  mode  of  land  travel  which 
often  produces  sensations  sometimes  felt  at  ^sea. 
Parallel  poles  with  a  kind  of  cradle  swung  between  are 
fastened  to  the  backs  of  two  mules,  and  one  or  two 
passengers  seat  themselves  in  the  cradle  for  the  voy- 
age.    There  is  a  bamboo  mat  which  serves  as  a  pro- 


104          A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

tection  overhead.  Progress  is  exceeding  slow,  so  slow 
that  the  muleteer  who  walks  beside  to  drive  the  animals 
often  falls  asleep  as  he  walks.  On  this  trip  a  stop 
was  made  at  a  Chinese  inn,  and  fearing  "animals" 
the  travelers  chose  to  sleep  in  the  open  courtyard  under- 
neath the  stars  of  a  Chinese  summer  night.  A  sum- 
mer vacation  in  China  is  a  most  interesting  experience. 
John  set  himself  a  heavy  schedule  of  language  study 
with  his  personal  teacher  to  make  up  for  time  lost  at- 
tending to  the  sick  around  the  school  in  Peking.  But 
a  doctor  is  at  a  premium  in  China,  and  with  sick  peo- 
ple in  Chefoo  as  well  as  in  Peking,  he  could  hardly 
call  his  time  his  own.  One  of  the  children  in  the  house 
was  taken  seriously  ill  with  dysentery  and  John  was 
trained  nurse  and  doctor  for  him  for  the  next  few 
weeks.  A  lady  missionary  was  brought  from  one  of 
the  interior  stations  to  Chefoo  to  the  home  of  her 
sister  which  was  next  door  to  where  the  Andersons 
were  living..  She  was  in  a  state  of  nervous  collapse 
with  other  complications.  When  John  went  in  to  see 
her,  he  said  that  she  was  raving  like  a  wild  beast  and 
had  no  control  of  herself  at  all.  It  was  really  a  case 
of  deferred  furlough,  waiting  to  go  home  until  it  was 
too  late.  John  was  her  constant  attendant  for  the  next 
month,  and  when  the  nurse  who  was  on  the  case  broke 
down  under  the  strain,  he  nursed  her  for  eighteen 
hours  and  then  relieved  the  family  every  third  or  fourth 

night.    Miss  H who  accompanied  this  missionary 

to  Chefoo  wrote  later  of  Dr.  Anderson : 

To  me  he  seemed  one  of  the  gentlest,  most  unselfish  men 
I  have  ever  seen  or"  heard  of.     I  can  never  forget  the  way 


INTO  THE  FAR  EAST  105 

he  worked  over  Tommie  (Miss  T ).    He  was  physician 

and  nurse  and  brother  all  in  one.    Again  and  again  she  said 
to  me,  "Oh,  Dr.  Anderson  is  so  good  to  me." 

Besides  this  John  had  many  of  the  school  girls  of 
the  mission  to  care  for  in  their  various  ills.  He  was 
supposed  to  be  on  his  vacation  and  this  Mras  not  his 
''parish"  at  all.  Moreover  he  was  beginning  to  show 
signs  of  strain.  But  no  one  in  distress  ever  turned  to 
him  in  vain.  At  the  end  of  the  summer  he  took  a 
long  cross  country  trip  to  attend  in  a  maternity  case 
where  there  was  no  other  doctor  available.  He  wrote 
on  his  return  from  this  trip : 

How  would  you  like  to  be  two  days  from  a  doctor  and  no 
trained  nurse  to  assist?  They  begged  me  to  stay  on  so 
that  I  could  hardly  stand  it.  On  the  way  back  we  had 
several   streams   to   cross   and   I   pulled   off   my   shoes   and 

carried  my  teacher  and  S across.     I  could  carry  them, 

but  they  could  not  carry  me. 

He  followed  out  literally  Paul's  injunction : 

We  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the 
weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves. 

It  had  been  decided  in  consultation  with  the  Mission 
Board  and  the  China  Medical  Board  that  it  was  best 
for  the  Andersons  to  go  to  Yang  Chow  in  the  fall, 
that  John  might  ease  the  burdens  of  Dr.  Taylor  who 
had  been  alone  so  long.  In  September,  before  leaving 
for  the  South,  he  substituted  for  several  weeks  for  a 
doctor  in  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  at  Chefoo,  and 
during  the  illness  of  the  other  doctor,  he  bore  the 


106  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

responsibility  of  the  hospital  alone.  Dr.  Hills,  the 
founder  of  the  hospital,  was  impressed  with  his  ''sim- 
plicity andj  gentleness  of  spirit,  his  persistency  in 
carrying  things  through,  and  his  medical  ability  which 
was  much  above  the  average." 

The  journey  to  Yang  Chow  was  made  as  far  as 
Shanghai  by  coastal  steamer.  The  day  they  left  Chefoo 
for  Shanghai,  John  discovered  that  a  lady,  a  stranger 
to  him,  had  been  crowded  with  her  four  children,  one 
of  whom  was  sick,  into  one  of  the  smaller  staterooms. 
He  suggested  that  she  and  the  children  exchange 
cabins  with  his  wife  and  himself  and  he  helped  in 
getting  them  comfortably  settled,  and  then  he  cared 
for  the  sick  child  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage. 


CHAPTER  IX:  YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND 


CHAPTER  IX 


YANG  CHOW   AND   BEYOND 


The  city  of  Yang  Chow  is  one  of  the  most  aristo- 
cratic in  China.  It  is  famous  as  the  home  of  great 
officials.  Marco  Polo,  the  traveler,  visited  it  long  ago 
(A.  D.  1275),  ^^^  its  aspect  has  hardly  changed  from 
that  time  until  to-day.  The  soft  pad,  pad,  of  the  feet  of 
the  chair  bearers  and  their  singsong  as  they  swing 
rapidly  through  the  streets,  the  great  brass  kettles 
hissing  in  front  of  tiny  tea  shops,  the  venders  of  green 
vegetables  who  give  their  strange  cries  before  the 
barred  gates  in  high  walls,  the  green  scum  on  the 
Grand  Canal,  these  are  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day 
— will  they  be  forever?  The  present  population  of  the 
city  is  estimated  as  360,000,  most  of  the  people  be- 
ing crowded  together  in  the  closest  quarters.  Some- 
times there  is  only  a  single  room  for  a  family  of  six 
or  seven.  But  inside  those  walls  are  also  the  gardens 
and  rockeries  of  the  wealthy.  Winding  walks  and 
tea  pavilions  and  lotus  ponds  are  beautiful  in  chrysan- 
themum time. 

Several  missions  are  at  work  in  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  city.  The  Baptist  Mission  to  which  the 
Andersons  were  attached  has  a  church  and  a  school 
and  a  hospital  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  city, 

109 


no  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

just  inside  the  city  wall.     Here  they  were  joyously 
welcomed  in  the  fall  of  191 7. 

The  story  of  the  busy  days  in  that  great  and  hoary 
city  is  told  by  Mrs.  Anderson : 

John  began  his  work  in  Yang  Chow  with  great  enthusiasm 
which  grew  steadily  in  spite  of  many  difficulties.  With  all 
his  old  relish  for  making  things  comfortable,  he  spent  most 
of  the  first  few  weeks  getting  our  house  in  order,  though 
helping  with  operations  and  making  the  rounds  with  Dr. 
Taylor.  The  house  in  which  we  lived  had  many  con- 
veniences  added  mostly  by  his  suggestion  and  often  by  hi^ 
own  hands.  I  remember  finding  him  one  day  digging  a 
ditch  in  the  back  yard  so  that  a  pipe  could  be  connected 
with  the  cistern  from  our  kitchen  pump.  A  Chinese  had 
been  at  it  two  days,  but  the  work  was  too  slow  for  John! 
All  that  winter  he  spent  much  of  his  spare  time  pruning 
trees  and  shrubs  that  had  been  neglected  some  time,  laid 
new  walks  and  brought  order  into  what  had  been  a  rather 
dilapidated  looking  lawn.  He  was  already  planning  to  dig 
some  artesian  wells  whenever  he  could  secure  a  well  ma- 
chine. 

On  January  first  he  took  formal  charge  of  the  woman's 
clinic  and  hospital.  This  was  a  great  relief  to  Dr.  Taylor's 
burdened  shoulders  and  he  was  never  tired  of  saying  how 
thankful  he  was  for  John's  help.  John  began  gradually  to 
add  conveniences  that  Dr.  Taylor  had  not  had  time  to  at- 
tend to  and  with  his  instinct  for  nursing  he  soon  helped  the 
Chinese  nurses  to  more  professional  ways  of  doing  things. 

I  cannot  give  the  exact  number  of  his  patients,  operations, 
etc.  They  were  the  usual  throng  of  discouraged  sick  who 
had  tried  Chinese  doctors  to  their  greater  suffering,  with 
occasional  patients  who  knew  enough  about  foreign  medi- 
cine to  come  early.     These  latter  were  rare. 

John  was  especially  anxious  for  more  normal  maternity 
cases.    Nearly  all  who  came  had  undergone  untold  suffering 


THE    PARENTS   OF       LITTLE    FOUR 

The  father  and  mother  of  "Little  Four"  and  the  baby  born 
on  the  street  who  died  of  starvation.  They  were  famine 
refugees  and  were  cared  for  in  the  hospital  for  more  than  a 
month. 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  111 

at  the  hands  of  ignorant  midwives,  often  after  four  or  five 
days'  labor.  One  I  remember  especially.  I  met  the  stretcher 
(a  Chinese  wicker  cot)  coming  along  our  main  street,  being 
heralded  by  Mrs.  Ye,  a  former  patient  and  one  of  the  hos- 
pital's staunchest  friends.  John  found  the  poor  woman  in 
an  awful  state.  I  shall  never  forget  the  look  on  the  faces 
of  her  two  women  relatives  who  stood  by,  one  on  either  side. 
How  strange  it  was  to  them — no  wonder  their  white  faces 
dripped  perspiration  at  every  tiny  moan  from  under  the  ether 
cone.  Finally  when  John  had  to  tell  them  that  the  baby 
was  dead,  one  cried  out:  "Oh,  Doctor,  bring  him  back  to 
life."  The  baby  was  a  little  boy  and  would  have  been  the 
hope  of  the  family,  for  his  father  had  died  shortly  before, 
the  parents  refusing  to  let  him  have  a  simple  operation  that 
would  probably  have  saved  him.  The  mother  lay  almost 
lifeless,  in  great  pain  from  the  terrible  infection  following 
the  treatment  she  had  received.  John  worked  night  and 
day,  even  carrying  dainty  broth  from  our  own  kitchen  to 
tempt  her,  trying  to  coax  her  into  an  interest,  for  he  said: 
*Tf  she  dies  it's  because  she  does  not  want  to  live."  Then 
an  adopted  son  was  suggested  and  a  wee  scrap  of  a  baby 
brought  from  the  foundling  home  gradually  won  the  listless 
woman  back  to  life.  The  baby  lived  on  there  for  six  weeks 
and  grew  to  be  a  bonny  fat  boy,  being  bottle  fed  from  milk 
that  John  prepared  most  of  the  time  himself.  It  was  in 
times  like  these  that  he  sighed  so  often  for  an  American 
trained  nurse,  but  he  did  his  work  and  the  nurse's  too,  with 
never  failing  gentleness.  The  woman  and  her  mother,  a 
sweet  old  lady,  grew  to  be  great  friends  of  ours. 

John  loved  his  children  patients  best  of  all  and  it  was  no 
unusual  sight  to  see  him  swinging  along  the  wards  or  hos- 
pital walks,  one  on  either  side  chattering  away.  "Little 
Apricot"  was  one  of  his  best  beloved,  a  pretty  child  of 
twelve.  She  used  to  run  to  him  and  snuggle  up  against  him 
just  as  if  she  had  been  an  American  child.  "Little  Ear" 
came  with  a  terrible  fracture  of  the  elbow,  the  arm  swollen 


112         A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

for  a  week.  She  was  so  shy  that  she  used  to  bury  her  face 
in  the  cover  when  we  came  around,  but  in  ten  days  John 
had  coaxed  her  over  home  to  play  with  the  baby  and  in  less 
time  than  that  she  was  the  affectionate  little  friend  of  the 
whole  place.  Still  another,  almost  a  beggar,  but  a  bright 
sweet  child  of  ten  or  twelve,  came  with  a  tubercular  ankle. 
She  was  there  for  months  and  came  to  seem  a  part  of  the 
hospital.  I  remember  John's  saying  as  we  made  the  rounds 
one  evening:  "I  am  going  to  keep  that  child  until  she  gets 
well  if  we  never  get  a  penny  even  for  her  food." 

Then  in  April  came  "Little  Four"  and  his  family,  the  most 
interesting  group  we  ever  had.  It  was  a  cold,  rainy  after- 
noon when  John  sent  for  me.  I  found  Dick  and  John 
getting  a  picture  of  the  most  desolate  family  group  I  ever 
saw.  The  woman  had  dropped  wearily  on  a  bench,  leaning 
against  the  wall  in  utter  abandonment  of  strength  and  desire 
for  anything.  By  her,  in  a  similar  state  of  filth,  vermin  and 
dejection,  sat  her  husband,  holding  a  wisp  of  a  six-day  old 
baby,  born  on  the  street.  A  blue  rag  was  wrapped  about 
its  body,  but  legs  purple  with  cold  dangled  down  helplessly. 
And  ten  feet  away  I  could  see  the  body  lice  crawling  on 
the  poor  little  thing. 

John  started  them  upstairs,  a  nurse  on  either  side  of  the 
woman.  But  they  handled  her  gingerly,  to  say  the  least.  I 
saw  John's  eyes  flash  with  anger.  He  pushed  them  aside 
and  helped  the  woman  up  himself,  straight  into  the  warm 
operating  room.  ''We'll  cut  off  her  hair  first,"  he  said,  to 
which  the  man  protested  that  she  would  be  no  longer  "hao 
kan"  (good-looking).  But  the  hair  was  cut,  John  himself 
doing  the  deed.  The  woman's  lips  were  so  parched  from 
starvation,  we  could  hardly  get  her  to  drink  tea.  She  had 
not  had  anything  to  eat  in  over  a  week.  John  asked  the 
man  why  she  had  not  eaten.  The  answer  was  simply:  "We 
had  no  food."  You  can  fancy  how  much  nourishment  she 
had  for  the  baby.  We  fed  it  on  a  bottle,  but  the  poor  little 
thing  had  had  too  hard  a  start,  six  days  without  anything. 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  113 

A  week  later  it  died,  though  John  worked  literally  day  and 
night  to  save  it.  I  came  back  from  a  trip  to  Shanghai  to 
find  John  padding  and  lining  a  tiny  coffin.  He  had  already 
carried  over  some  of  our  baby's  clothes  for  the  little  body. 
And  then  he  smashed  all  precedents  for  hurrying  dead  bodies 
out  of  the  hospital  by  having  a  funeral.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  vivid  memories  of  our  life  at  Yang  Chow — the  little 
room  growing  dark  in  the  twilight,  nurses  and  the  carpenter 
who  had  made  the  coffin  standing  against  the  wall,  father 
and  mother  and  brothers  of  the  baby  seated  in  stupid  won- 
derment at  the  meaning  of  it  all — and  there  by  the  coffin, 
Miss  Hwang,  the  woman  evangelist,  read  by  the  light  of  a 
flickering  lamp  the  immortal  words  of  the  Bible  about  the 
resurrection.  Then  she  prayed  and  suddenly  the  father, 
stirred  by  some  strange  new  emotions,  flung  himself  on  the 
floor  and  tried  to  pray.  It  was  the  queerest  jumble  of  long- 
ing and  need  I  ever  heard,  but  somehow  we  all  felt  as  if  God 
took  heed.    Then  he  turned  and  began  kow-towing  to  John. 

"Why,"  he  said,  "all  this  waste  of  heart  on  a  girl  baby? 
It  would  have  been  all  the  same  to  her  if  we  had  just  carried 
her  out  and  thrown  her  over  the  wall." 

But  it  was  not  the  same  to  John,  nor  was  it,  I  fancied, 
to  any  of  the  few  who  witnessed  it. 

There  were  three  boys  in  this  family  who  were  almost 
as  badly  off  as  their  mother.  They  were  also  cared  for  in 
the  hospital  while  the  father  worked  on  the  hospital  grounds 
for  a  month  or  more.  Restored  to  health  and  strength  at 
last,  they  became  homesick  and  wanted  to  return  to  their 
ancestral  village,  which  was  sixty  miles  east  of  Yang  Chow. 
They  had  left  there  three  years  before  in  a  time  of  famine 
and  had  not  been  able  to  return.  John  tried  to  get  them  to 
stay  in  Yang  Chow,  promising  to  find  work  for  the  father, 
but  they  would  go.  And  so  John  and  Dr.  Taylor  supplied 
them  with  money  for  the  journey.  It  was  finally  agreed 
that  "Little  Four"  should  stay  behind.  A  little  room  was 
fitted  up  for  him  in  the  servants'  quarters,  his  queue  was  cut 


114  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

off,  and  then  he  was  started  to  school.  The  first  Sunday  he 
went  to  church,  John  gave  him  a  penny  to  put  in  the  col- 
lection, and  later  he  was  allowed  ten  pennies  a  week  for 
which  he  rendered  a  weekly  account  of  expenditures.  His 
first  purchase  was  a  pair  of  socks.  John  put  him  to  learning 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  as  soon  as  these  were  learned 
he  set  him  to  other  Bible  verses.  He  has  since  been  sent  to 
the  mission  school  in  Soochow,  and  has  been  given  a  new 
name — Peter, 

One  other  funeral  John  managed  in  an  outside  room  where 
a  smallpox  baby  died.  'Tt's  their  only  chance  to  know  any- 
thing of  our  conception  of  death,"  he  answered  the  Chinese 
who  insisted  that  he  was  wasting  his  energies  for  nothing. 

Through  the  long  summer  months  he  worked  untiringly, 
often  beginning  his  operations  at  five  in  the  morning.  I 
remember  a  Mrs.  Wang  who  had  a  very  serious  operation. 
She  was  a  valued  worker  in  the  China  Inland  Mission  school 
and  three  of  the  missionaries  spent  the  night  before  with 
us  that  they  might  be  there  to  see  the  operation  and  en- 
courage Mrs.  Wang.  John  slept  almost  none  that  night  and 
I  knew  he  was  praying  anxiously  for  skill  to  do  the  opera- 
tion. I  feared  he  would  come  to  the  task  worn  out  and 
nervous  from  his  night's  vigil,  but  he  was  as  cool  as  I  ever 
saw  him  and  did  a  splendid  operation.  He  said  he  had 
never  seen  so  many  complications,  but  the  patient  recovered 
fully  and  was  a  real  blessing  to  our  hospital  during  her  stay. 

It  should  be  recalled  that  this  w^as  only  the  second 
year  of  John  Anderson's  life  in  China.  Ordinarily, 
the  second  year  as  well  as  the  first,  is  given  up  more 
or  less  wholly  to  the  study  of  the  langxiage.  It  is 
more  difficult  for  a  medical  missionary  to  take  time 
for  the  second  year  of  study  on  account  of  the  im- 
mediate demand  for  his  professional  services.  John 
tried  to  carry  on  his  studies  in  the  language  with  his 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  115 

other  work.  At  first  he  set  aside  three  hours  a  day 
to  be  with  his  teacher.  The  change  from  Peking  to 
Yang  Chow  added  the  difficuUy  of  a  difference  of 
dialect.  He  had  originally  gone  to  the  Peking  School 
because  he  expected  to  work  in  Honan.  There  were 
excuses  enough  to  simply  let  the  language  go,  and  try 
to  do  the  best  service  possible  without  proficiency  in 
speaking  Chinese,  as  is  sometimes  done.  But  it  was 
not  his  habit  to  do  things  half  way,  especially  when  a 
limitation  on  his  speech  meant  a  limitation  on  his  op- 
portunity to  speak  for  his  Lord.  He  set  himself  the 
task  of  leading  the  hospital  chapel  in  his  turn,  and 
though  it  took  more  energy  than  the  performance  of 
a  major  operation  he  stuck  to  it.  This  determination 
impressed  deeply  the  hospital  evangelist  who  was  one 
of  John's  best  friends  among  the  Chinese  and  he  spoke 
of  it  later.  In  this  first  summer  at  Yang  Chow,  he 
gathered  the  hospital  workers  into  a  class  in  "The 
Manhood  of  the  Master,"  using  the  Chinese  transla- 
tion. 

Moreover,  he  was  as  faithful  as  ever  in  the  general 
work  of  the  church.  Note  this  letter  written  in  the 
winter  time : 

Every  night  this  week  there  has  been  a  meeting  in  the 
church.  The  average  attendance  has  been  over  two  hun- 
dred, mostly  men.  The  church  has  no  heat  and  part  of  it  has 
no  roof,  the  windows  all  loose,  and  the  floor  is  made  of  dirt 
brickbats  thrown  together.  I  have  been  three  times  and  I 
do  not  see  for  my  life  how  the  Chinese  can  stand  it.  Tt 
was  all  that  I  could  do  to  stand  it  as  it  has  been  so  cold 
this  past  week.  Last  night  the  preacher  talked  about  Christ 
being  crucified  and  the  people  would  come  in  off  the  street 


116  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

while  he  was  talking,  stand  up,  go  out,  change  seats,  talk, 
read,  sing,  smoke,  or  anything  else  they  wanted  to  do.  It 
is  so  hard  to  tell  them  about  Christ  and  His  life  in  a  few 
minutes  for  all  this  talk  is  foreign  to  them.  I  do  not  blame 
them  for  they  do  not  know  any  better,  but  I  certainly  do  pity 
them  and  wish  and  pray  that  they  may  see  and  believe.  It 
is  going  to  take  time  and  a  long  time  and  a  great  deal  of 
hard  work  and  prayer  to  Christianize  this  country,  so  fixed  in 
its  ways  and  customs.  I  am  not  discouraged  and  I  do  not 
believe  I  am  going  to  be,  for  I  have  as  near  an  ideal  home 
as  I  can  to  go  to  after  mixing  with  the  filth  and  dirt  and 
unspeakable  diseases. 

John's  chief  happiness  centered  in  his  home.  All 
during  the  year  at  Peking  he  was  looking  forward  to 
having  a  home  of  his  own  where  he  would  have  in 
his  own  hands  the  keys  of  hospitality  and  where  there 
would  be  real  quiet  and  peace  and  rest  alone.  When 
they  were  at  last  settled  in  their  own  home  in  Yang 
Chow,  he  wrote  that  Minnie  and  he  had  had  their 
first  meal  alone  for  many  months.  But  he  loved  com- 
pany too.    He  wrote  in  one  letter : 

We  had  just  a  few  days  past  a  man,  his  wife,  two  chil- 
dren and  a  friend  of  theirs,  to  spend  the  night  with  us. 
I  am  going  to  copy  a  portion  of  the  note  she  wrote  us — 
"We  are  under  life-long  obligation  to  you  all  for  taking 
us  in  and  giving  us  such  good  care.  I  don't  think  I  was 
ever  so  struck  by  the  hospitality  of  a  lovely  Christian 
home  than  when  we  came  into  your  quiet,  sweet  home 
after  the,  dirty,  wet,  miserable  heathen  launch  and  streets." 
I  do  believe  that  a  Christian  home  in  China  is  the  shadow 
of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land,  not  only  from  the  hot 
sun,  not  only  from  the  dirt  and  filth,  but  a  shadow  against 
sin  in  every  form.     I  do  hope  that  we  shall  always  be  able 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  117 

to  keep  our  home  open.  These  people  we  had  never  met 
and  knew  nothing  about  them  except  that  they  were  com- 
ing through  Yang  Chow.  We  want  to  keep  our  home  open 
not  only  to  our  own  countrymen,  but  to  the  Chinese  as 
well.  We  had  a  Chinese  lady  at  dinner  with  us  to-day 
who  a  few  years  ago  was  a  Buddhist  nun. 

It  was  the  Andersons'  regular  custom  to  have  some 
Chinese  to  a  meal  once  a  week,  sometimes  patients 
nearly  well,  sometimes  hospital  assistants  and  others. 
Mrs.  Anderson  tells  of  two  Sunday  dinners  in  par- 
ticular when  An  Dai  Fu  brought  over  his  favorite 
"Little  Apricot"  and  Tsang  Ken  Tzu,  a  little  cripple 
boy.  He  entertained  them  with  funny  stories  and 
post  cards  of  American  scenes,  just  as  if  they  had  been 
children  at  home.  Never  a  father  was  happier  over 
the  coming  of  a  little  son,  than  John  when  his  boy 
was  born  in  the  autumn  that  they  came  to  Yang  Chow. 
His  letters  were  always  full  of  him  thereafter. 

He  wrote  September  12,  1918: 

Mink  was  gone  about  six  days  to  Shanghai  for  dental 
work.  It  kept  me  busy  at  odd  times  taking  care  of  Griffith. 
I  had  some  sick  patients  and  had  to  go  to  the  hospital  at 
night.  One  night  Griffith  was  so  wide  awake  that  I 
wrapped  him  up  and  took  him  with  me,  though  it  was  rain- 
ing. He  enjoyed  every  minute  as  we  had  a  red  lantern 
and  he  enjoys  light  so  much. 

About  this  tim.e  the  matter  of  going  with  the  Red 
Cross  to  Siberia  had  to  be  decided.  Both  Dr.  Taylor 
and  John  wanted  to  go.  John  had  written  to  his 
brother  who  was  entering  the  army : 


118  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

I  hope  that  you  will  enjoy  military  life  and  that  you 
are  anxious  to  get  out  and  fight  for  your  country  and  for 
the  right.  I  have  wished  that  I  was  not  so  tied  down  here 
or  I  would  be  in  France  with  some  coolies.  Dr.  Taylor 
has  an  Edison  and  has  two  records  about  the  war.  The 
first  time  I  heard  them,  it  certainly  did  make  my  heart 
fairly  thrill.  You  will  not  find  military  life  easy,  but 
hard,  with  things  that  it  takes  a  man  to  do  with  the 
best  that  is  in  him.  Last  spring  in  Peking  we  got  up  at 
five  and  went  two  miles  to  drill  every  morning.  That  was 
fun  beside  what  you  will  go  through.  I  am  proud  of  hav- 
ing a  brother  in  the  war.  The  fellow  who  will  not  fight 
for  the  right  has  not  much  red  blood  in  him. 

The  China  Medical  Board  decided  finally  that  Dr. 
Taylor  should  go  on  account  of  his  approaching  fur- 
lough. The  two  doctors  had  a  long  talk  together  and 
John  said  to  his  friend : 

Dick,  I  want  you  to  feel  that  half  of  me  is  going  to 
Siberia  too,  and  half  of  me  is  staying  here,  and  I  want  to 
take  care  of  Anne  (Mrs.  Taylor)  and  your  children  just 
as  I  do  of  Mink  and  Griffith,  if  I  may. 

Dr.  Taylor's  family  moved  into  the  Anderson  home 
and  John  even  had  their  piano  moved  over  and  upstairs 
for  them.  It  was  quite  an  undertaking.  The  piano 
stuck  half  way  up  the  stairs  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of 
about  a  dozen  Chinese,  and  the  ladies  begged  him  to 
give  up  for  fear  that  the  stairway  might  collapse.  It 
was  thoroughly  typical  of  John's  determination  to  see 
things  through  that  he  calmly  propped  up  the  stairs 
and  took  away  part  of  the  railing  and  the  piano  went 
up  of  course,  though  moving  it  consumed  most  of  the 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  119 

afternoon.     John  had  a  ''shoot  the  chutes"  built  for 
the  Taylor  children  in  the  back  yard. 

Here  are  some  quotations  from  several  of  John's 
letters  written  about  this  time: 

It  has  been  a  right  interesting  day  for  me,  dispatching 
three  Chinese  whom  we  have  taken  on  to  send  to  school 
this  year.  One  will  cost  us  $60,  one  $8,  and  the  other  about 
$12.  We  have  one  more  that  we  are  mighty  anxious  to 
help  through  college,  about  $120  a  year.  He  is  such  a  fine 
fellow.    He  was  my  teacher  last  summer. 

This  morning  it  was  my  time  to  lead  prayers  and  I 
talked  about  twenty  minutes  on  the  barren  fig  tree,  as  re- 
corded in  Mark  XI.  Christ  did  not  say  that  this  tree  had 
never  brought  forth  fruit,  but  that  it  did  not  have  any 
on  it  then.  How  we  Christians  think  that  if  we  do  some- 
thing once  a  year,  or  once  a  month,  that  it  is  sufficient. 
Christ  told  the  tree  that  it  should  wither  for  it  had  no 
fruit.  If  He  should  come  and  find  our  names  on  the  church 
roll,  pretending  to  be  Christians  and  not  bringing  forth 
fruit,  I  fear  that  He  would  treat  us  as  He  did  the  fig  tree. 

At  this  time  also,  word  came  that  the  China  Medical 
Board  had  granted  $45,000  and  the  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Board  $15,000  for  the  erection  of  a  more 
commodious  hospital.    Of  this  John  wrote : 

With  this  equipment  you  have  no  idea  how  meek  and 
unable  I  feel  to  do  my  part  in  running  this  hospital  as 
it  should  be.  I  am  looking  to  God  for  guidance  and  direc- 
tion from  day  to  day.  In  order  to  get  in  more  time  with 
God  I  have  been  getting  up  at  5  130,  but  as  Mink  is  getting 
stronger  and  I  do  not  have  to  wait  on  her,  we  are  going  to 
make  it  six  o'clock. 


120  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

On  October  9th,  the  home  letter  which  was  received 
in  Woodruff  on  November  i8th,  contained  the  follow- 
ing: 

In  the  last  seven  days  I  have  had  five  operations  for 
appendicitis.  I  have  averaged  five  or  six  operations  a  day 
for  nearly  a  month.  I  have  over  sixty  patients  in  the 
hospital.  On  top  of  this  four  or  five  of  my  helpers  have 
been  sick,  and  our  chief  Chinese  assistant  who  has  been 
here  twelve  years  has  gone.  Then  I  have  to  see  after  a 
number  of  workmen  as  we  are  getting  ready  to  build  a 
big  addition  to  the  hospital.  The  Building  Committee  of 
the  Mission  on  which  I  happen  to  be  one  of  three  members, 
has  left  all  the  plans  to  be  decided  on  by  me  after  I  have 
consulted  with  the  architect.  With  this  I  still  keep  up 
leading  chapel  twice  a  week  and  attending  seven  days  a 
week,  prayer-meeting  once,  church  once,  and  the  prayer- 
meeting  of  the  missionaries  once  each  week.  I  could  name 
a  number  of  other  things,  but  from  this  you  can  see  that 
I  have  enough  to  do  to  keep  me  out  of  mischief.  I  do 
not  know  what  we  will  do  to  run  the  hospital  much  longer 
if  we  do  not  get  more  help,  as  drugs  are  so  high.  I  have 
had  six  cases  of  typhoid  recently.  I  am  looking  forward 
to  one  month's  rest  the  first  of  February,  as  that  is  Chinese 
New  Year  and  medical  work  slacks  off  at  that  time. 

A  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Cen- 
tral China  Mission  called  John  to  Shanghai  for  the 
thirteenth  of  November.  Begrudging  even  a  few  hours 
from  his  work,  he  planned  to  take  the  midnight  train 
on  the  twelfth.  A  launch  was  scheduled  to  leave  Yang 
Chow  at  8 :30  P.  M.  to  connect  at  Chinkiang  with  the 
Shanghai  train.  The  day  was  very  full.  The  hospital 
accounts  were  all  straightened  up  in  perfect  order, 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  121 

and  his  desk  was  cleared.  A  letter  was  mailed  with 
a  check  for  $25.00  as  a  contribution. to  the  Educational 
Campaign  in  North  Carolina  for  Wake  Forest  College. 
After  supper  he  packed  his  bag,  and  then  sat  around 
with  the  two  families,  laughing  and  joking  in  high 
good  spirits.  He  started  out  once  or  twice  to  walk 
to  the  canal,  and  then  decided  that  he  might  have 
to  wait  by  the  canal  bank  for  the  launch,  and  so  came 
back  to  the  warmth  of  his  happy  home.  Finally  he 
and  one  of  the  older  missionaries  went  out  into  the 
night  to  catch  the  launch.  Arriving  at  the  wharf  they 
found  that  it  had  already  departed.  The  only  chance 
to  make  the  train  would  be  a  small  sampan,  and  at 
that  it  was  a  question  as  to  whether  it  would  not  ar- 
rive too  late.  For  a  moment  John  hesitated  and  al- 
most decided  to  go  back  and  go  to  bed  and  get  a  good 
night's  rest.  Then  striking  a  bargain  with  the  boat- 
man for  the  trip  he  waved  good-by  to  the  missionary 
and  jumped  aboard  with  his  old  servant,  Dzu  Da.  To 
speed  up  the  journey,  John  took  turns  with  Dzu  Da 
and  the  boatman  in  towing  the  boat  from  the  bank  of 
the  canal  until  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  canal 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Yang  Tze  River.  Dzu  Da 
was  the  last  man  to  do  any  towing,  and  when  he  got 
aboard  the  sampan  he  was  perspiring  freely.  John 
took  his  own  steamer  rug  off  his  knees  and,  in  spite 
of  the  protests  of  the  old  man,  he  wrapped  it  around 
the  servant  and  put  his  lantern  between  his  legs  to 
keep  him  from  catching  cold  in  the  November  night. 
He  told  Dzu  Da  that  he  himself  was  already  warm. 


122  A  GREATHEART  OF  THE  SOUTH 

The  night  was  dark  and  the  river  was  far  from  quiet 
as  they  put  out  into  its  swift  current  to  cross  to  the 
south  bank  to  Chinkiang.  John  and  Dzu  Da  were 
sitting  together  in  the  body  of  the  boat,  the  boatman 
at  the  rear  sculHng  with  the  oar,  when  a  large  river 
steamer  loomed  up  in  the  darkness.  Never  thinking 
of  himself,  John  reached  for  the  lantern  and  sprang 
to  the  bow  of  the  little  boat,  to  give  warning  lest  they 
be  run  down.  Apparently  the  lookout  on  the  steamer 
never  saw  the  swinging  light,  for  the  steamer  struck 
the  sampan,  and  John  encased  in  his  heavy  overcoat 
was  thrown  into  the  river.  The  boatman  heard  a  cry, 
but  night  and  the  Yang  Tze  had  swallowed  him  up. 
The  steamer  without  stopping  passed  on  up  the  river. 
Lifting  the  light  in  the  darkness  to  save  others  John 
Anderson  went  down  into  the  dark  waters.  The  others 
clung  to  the  little  sampan  which  was  broken  in  two, 
and  drifted  safely  to  shore  in  the  later  morning.  They 
ran  at  once  to  the  missionaries  in  Chinkiang  with  the 
news,  and  in  the  afternoon  it  was  brought  to  the  hos- 
pital in  Yang  Chow. 

"Great-heart  is  dead,  they  say, — 
Fighting  the  fight, 
Holding  the  light, 
Into  the  night. 

Great-heart  is  dead,  they  say, — 

But  the  light  shall  burn  brighter, 

And  the  night  shall  be  lighter, 

For  his  going: 

And  a  rich,  rich  harvest  for  his  sowing. 


YANG  CHOW  AND  BEYOND  123 

Great-heart  is  dead,  they  say, — 
What  is  death  to  such  an  one  as  Great-heart? 
One  sigh,  perchance,  for  work  unfinished  here, 
Then  a  swift  passing  to  a  mightier  sphere, 
New   joys,   perfected   powers,   the   vision   clear, 
And  all  the  amplitude  of  Heaven  to  work 
The  work  he  held  so  dear. 

Great-heart  is  dead,  say  they? 

Nor  dead,  nor  sleeping!     He  lives  on!     His  name 

Shall  kindle  many  a  heart  to  equal  flame. 

The  fire  he  lighted  shall  burn  on  and  on, 

Till  all  the  darkness  of  the  lands  be  gone, 

And  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  be  won, 

And  one. 

A  soul  so  fiery  sweet  can  never  die, 

But  lives  and  loves  and  works  through  all  eternity." 


THE  END 


